Of Metis and Men
by Bronzemoon
Summary: In the place where Olivia lives being Metis is normal. Of course things change when she and her roomates start to under go their first change. Will she learn to deal with her deformities.
1. Chapter 1

Of Metis and Men- Ch. 1

Olivia paced her cell in certain restlessness, she was not usually an impatient person but today was going to be special she could feel it in the air. Yesterday, Janus had called all the children together and let them know that there would be a special meeting taking place after dinner instead of their regular training but gave no other details and it had been driving her nuts ever since. Olivia had spent the better part of the night trying to figure out what was so special that Janus would break their schedule. Their schedules were not flexible and only something of true importance would cause the schedule to be deviated from. So she knew it was something to be nervous about, in fact Janus acted like he was almost _nervous_ about it. She could tell by how tensely he was holding himself that this was going to be a "big talk" and those weren't usually very good, in fact the last big talk they had was to discuss sexuality and how being Metis did not give them leave to break the litany even if there was no chance of procreation. Olivia was a very good snoop and through her digging she had found out that some of the older Metis in the facility had be caught in a compromising position which led to the huge the talk and from that point on even casual contact was frowned upon. Olivia found it a bit crazy really, every once in a while she would hug a friend, but now she would get a demerit and strong reminder about the litany plus the bonus lecture of the dangers of casual touching. With a disgusted snort she went back over to her computer and tried to go through another on of her online lessons, she was ecstatic to finally be receiving formal educational training, but the "big talk" kept distracting her. Janus was usually very upfront about everything and this quiet change in their established routine was unsettling. Still she couldn't resist the pull of technology and turned her attention back to the new computer lesson at her desk.

Ever since she was young, Olivia had been fascinated with computers, most Glasswalkers were involved with technology but she was more than interested from a young age. She had seen her first computer down in the recreation center at the tender age of five and had been hooked ever since. It was down there more as a lab test, but through many hours of hard work, trial and error she learned, and when it broke she asked for the parts to be left in a work area so she could study it from the inside out. She amazed those who watched her with become more than adept and skilled. Her claws were clumsy, big and sharp but with patience and time she learned to manipulate the tiny mouse and even tinier keyboard. She was stubbornly determined to learn, so with much studying, practice and finesse she was deftly able to manipulate the tiny wires, though being color blind to a small degree meant that she often had to have wires tagged by the attendants, until she learned by sight just where they went and what they affected. Years later she now had surprising accuracy and speed while using her system, and despite her handicaps she had begun to modify bits of the hardware or what ever other parts she could every time she read something new in her computer manuals. She was the little computer guru in the facility, often being consulted when there were basic computer problems and later the more complex issues as soon as it was known that she was adept; she spent all of her free time learning everything about computers from the inside out and had pestered her caregivers so often for more information that they were about to scream, until Janus had given in and requisitioned mass amounts of materials and equipment to keep her busy.

Even better was the invention of online schooling, and as soon as she found out about it, she asked to apply to different courses, only to find out that she was looking at college computer courses and even though those were classes she could handle, she still needed to have a diploma or high school equivalency. She was smart and ahead in her studies but not quite that far, so she asked that her schooling be accelerated. Olivia was not only eager for extra work but anything that gave her an excuse to spend more time on her beloved computer was a bonus. She knew that she was carefully watched every time she logged into class, her comprehension, her participation, her assignments and especially the classes she chose to take. The majority of her classes had mostly to do with computers, but also many in math, she found the sciences to be interesting, but online labs kind of lost something she actually preferred the hands on labs much better. English was her nemesis though, not because she couldn't understand the written form, she had been studying English since she was four; it was she just didn't understand why the humans had to make their language so complex for no good reason. Everything had modifies or articles or some other silly prefix or postfix to justify its use and she didn't understand why anyone bothered. Olivia enjoyed schooling and learning so she often took extra time going through everything in the lessons carefully, mostly because she wanted top grades and then also because her head started to throb after staring at a view screen after long hours, but today the headache was in anticipation of what would happen, and also because her attention kept wandering and she had forgotten to turn on the extra light. Being Metis meant that her vision was really sharp, but for reading tiny characters that were splayed across a brilliantly white sheet of paper she had spent many long hours learning how to figure them out. She used an electronic magnifier and that seemed to help, but more often than not her brain wanted to turn the letters this way and that, making it much more of challenge to understand the information that was given to her. Most pleasure reading material came on tape or disc, so for leisure reading she listened to the tapes and also read along to better familiarize herself with words and their spelling. She did find that reading a regular book was much easier, especially those in large print, so she had spent many after hours reading by the tiny dim pen light she had filched, even though she was supposed to be sleeping. She became aware that her room was monitored when Janus privately gave her a small reading lamp and told her to make sure she was sleeping at least by midnight. From that point on she made sure that no matter how late she stayed up, that she was an active participant in lessons and casual conversation – at least as much as she would normally have been. She was thrilled for the light and not receiving punishment for breaking a rule, but she wasn't sure how she felt about the knowledge that she never would have any true privacy while she lived there. It made her wonder what other monitoring devices there were around, and sadly she couldn't start to investigate what types there were on the internet, else she would questioned on why she needed to know about security devices.

Olivia was one of the few children in the facility who really seemed to cherish her sense of privacy. She was painfully shy, partially because of what and where she was, but also because she was the only girl metis in a wing of five. She was much smaller than the boys, they tended to be eight feet or taller already, while she was a mere six feet. They were a tumble of arms, legs and rushing hormones and blundered their way through the living spaces, classrooms and any other shared areas, while she tended to be a bit daintier. Well as dainty as a werewolf could be, so she got quickly used to making sure that she stayed out of harms way, which lead to often being left out first by need and then it turned into self imposed isolation for her own sake of privacy, which lately she really seemed to need. She knew that every girl about her age would be going through their biological changes, which she secretly thought it was a bunch of crap that she, who would never ever be able to have children, would have to go through the fuss of a woman's menses. It seemed to be yet another punishment given to the Metis.

It was almost as if being Metis regulated her and others of her kind to be damned no matter what. She supposed she was more fortunate than others; at least she was safe, fed and well housed. She lived in a large Glasswalker run research facility, which was underground and completely private; in fact she doubted the outside world even knew they existed. Olivia knew they were a special facility, most other facilities were human run and werewolf infiltrated, but theirs was different out of necessity because of the high number of metis around, it wasn't safe for regular humans to be there. Kin folk were around a plenty, but she could never tell how many since they seemed to come in and out all the time, and for the fact that the facility was huge. She was aware of four levels, but not being privy to much she wasn't able to tell just how big the facility was, for all she really knew it could be a massive underground complex that she had only the barest access to, but she often laughed that thought away as an over stimulated imagination. The first level was always locked and she had never seen a person coming nor going from the tightly sealed doors. The second contained the four dormer wings, classrooms, and cafeteria. The third had a training salle, labs and medical stations. Lastly was the fourth level and her favorite, it was the recreation hall; the sheer size of it was the reason Olivia supposed that the facility was much larger than she was allowed to know. The recreation level was a huge open space where they could run, be loud and do whatever they wanted. There was sports equipment, six small segregated lounges with televisions, supplies for arts and crafts and just about anything you could imagine wanting to play with. The most unique thing about the recreation lounge was that all children from the dormer wings were brought down at once and allowed to completely interact for the time allotted. This also was where Olivia was first introduced to computers, other basic technology and oddly enough the jump rope. She had never been really popular because of her shyness, so tended to stick to solo activities, which seemed fine with the other children. She did have a few friends but they also tended to be the shy and solo type but she did have a few people to talk to.

As a younger, though not too much smaller, child she had labored for hours every day to master jumping rope. She had seen a program on television where it showed them jumping rope and having loads of fun doing it. It never occurred to her that at a metis child it might be impossible. Living in the facility, it wasn't really brought often to the children's attention that they weren't just normal garou children. It wasn't until they were much older that the stigma of metis was labeled on them for their actions. It never occurred to the children that they couldn't do the things they saw, because they were just children, no titles, and no limitations. However Olivia learning to jump rope had been quite the spectacle for almost everyone. Her huge form made it very cumbersome for jumping repeatedly. Not to mention the "jump rope" was more accurately a jumping cable. It was the only thing she could grip with any tension and not break. At first people watched because it was amusing, but the better she got her audience was more amazed than amused. She often heard the hushed whispers about her tenacity and ability even though she was metis. It was really the first time Olivia realized that being metis was going to be a hindrance. If people were impressed that she could jump a rope, then the rest of life as a metis was going to full of challenges.

'_If I learn how I will be more like a normal child." _The younger Olivia had thought_. 'Maybe then they will like me more. Maybe they will be able to see past my being metis and see me for just being Olivia."_

As she grew older she realized that her thoughts were only a pipe dream. People would only see what she was, they would always give her the stigma that was attached and that others would look down on her for her parent's sin. She had been reciting the litany since she before she could really comprehend it. She understood that her parents had broken the very first rule of Gaia, her being metis was a punishment and so were all of her deformities. Olivia also understood that because she was metis, people very much made her pay for her parents sin time and time again, as if having your parent's dead and growing up without them wasn't punishment enough. At least she had a dossier about them, a few photos and some carefully secreted precious memories that she shared with no one; it was more than many around her had.

What she did not understand is why everyone who kept touting the litany at her, for reasons of their treating her poorly, tended to forget the part of the litany that said

"Treat all with respect for all are of Gaia."

Still she obeyed the rules, her quiet wish of being better liked carefully squirreled away in her mind so that no one would taunt her for it, although she often did wonder about her place in the Cycle and just what she was destined for. As years passed she grew, her body was still more petite than most but her mind was razor sharp, which she kept finally honed, then all at once the stability was pulled from underneath her, in a way she never would have guessed.

At least her life was always on a routine that she could predict, sometimes it was comforting but on certain days, it was excruciating. Her schedule was the same every day – no rest on the weekends, unless there was a special event scheduled. Any time the schedule was deviated off its normal course, chaos ran amok for hours. Her life was arranged thus:

6:30 – 7 This was time to rise, shower, dress and clean your room. Cleanliness was not only encouraged it was absolutely mandatory. Their rooms were inspected regularly. Demerits were given for sloth, and they had each learned early it was just easier to pick up after yourself.

7 – 8 Breakfast was taken with one other group of children. It rotated quarterly for whatever reason Olivia didn't know. She figured it would be nice to actually eat with her friends at every meal but no one really asked her opinion. The came the first of the lab tests to be performed for the day. For Olivia that meant drawing blood only, but she knew it was specific to each child.

8 – 12 This was the start of their academic lessons. They were grouped by dorm and rotated four times to different subjects. Olivia was often ahead of her dorm mates and was pleased that the teachers saw fit to work with her instead of making her wait for the others. This is where her online lessons supplemented what she learned.

12 – 1 Lunch was an event only for their dorm; it was then that dining etiquette was approached, so it wasn't a relaxing meal at all. They were constantly critiqued and corrected while they ate, which jumped all over Olivia's nerves. If nothing else being in a dorm of four boys meant that lunch was a hellish event for her. Even is she was not being corrected, one of them was – constantly. She almost looked forward to the after lunch lab tests, which were also a group effort. Everyone had a round of tests on eyes, ears, lung capacity and each also donated at least two liters of blood.

1- 2 Was the mandatory rest period, and one Olivia cherished. Rest did not have to mean sleeping, it meant resting and after giving blood everyone needed to. She often used the time for pleasure reading. Sometimes she slept, but she often closed her door and entered the world of her imagination. Throwing herself into role of the literary characters, where anything was possible and even the impossible was just a puzzle to be figured out. Her favorite books were the high fantasy genre, but she would read just about anything.

2- 4 Was the physical training portion. They had started off from a young age learning all sorts of martial arts, hand to hand combat, gymnastics and basic weapons. At first the trainings had been approached liked games, but now that they were older, it was very much a high intensity training session. Again, they were grouped with another dorm to learn to fight against a variety of styles. They were warned that if the facility were ever breached they would be expected to stand and fight.

4- 5 After training they had an hour to get ready for dinner, which included mandatory cleaning, though as the children got older most wanted the hot shower to ease the ache of muscle strain and bruises. Olivia had learned that stretching after a hot shower often helped, and spent most of her time practicing yoga in her room. She had had to work with one of the trainers to adapt the yoga moves to style she could do, but it was worth it.

5 – 6 Dinner was much more somber affair that even lunch. There was no etiquette training, it was show time. They dined formally, with all the formal accoutrements expected, and just to keep them on their toes a special dinner guest could be dining with them any night. It was never announced and sometimes the guest arrived a bit late so they could never tell. More labs followed dinner, Olivia had her standard blood tests, but they also tested something with her muscles, she had not learned much about it because it hurt like the dickens and often she turned her head so she couldn't see the instrument of torture being placed in her arm.

6 – 8 It was back to academic lessons, though these were the creative lessons: arts and music. Olivia loved listening to music but found that she wasn't really good at producing any form of it whether it was signing or instrumental. The arts she wasn't much better at, she did enjoy doing it but didn't create anything special. Computers were her creative outlet and she knew it.

8 – 9 These were the most intensive laboratory sessions they had all day and there was no telling what would be tested. From the inside out there were some many tests that Olivia stopped even trying to figure out what they were for, but they tended to have a horribly invasive nature and were in general uncomfortable.

9 –10 This was recreation period, where they were allowed into the recreation hall to do whatever they wanted. It was their most free period of the day and the most looked forward to time of the day, even above meals.

10 pm was their bed time, technically all lights went out by ten thirty with the theory it should take about a half hour to fall asleep, and it would give them exactly eight hours of sleep. Often Olivia stayed up to read, and did fine on her six or so hours of sleep.

This was the schedule Olivia and the others living in the facility had been following day in and day out since they were four. Every once in a while she wished for more free time, but at this point she doubted she would know what to do with unstructured time. There were so used to it that it never crossed anyone's mind that they might suggest a change now and again as they grew older. It was just the way of life they knew and so they went along with it, no questions asked.

Finally the clock struck read five minutes before six and she hastened to the lessons room, only to find out that they were meeting in the recreation hall. Olivia furrowed a brow; this meant that _everyone_ was being addressed. She quietly entered the hall, and hearing no one call out for her (not that she had expected anyone to, but it would have been nice.) she sat in the furthest and darkest corner she could. She has not wanted to get there early and wait there by herself or worse become a target for someone who was there early and bored, but still it might have been nice to be able to chat to the few people she did like. At six o'clock exactly Janus walked through the doors and they automatically shut and locked with a loud clang and clank, behind him. No late comers would be admitted, then again there were no late comers, all metis had learned from an early age that rules were not to be disobeyed or the consequences could be rather nasty.

"Welcome children." Janus said in the deep rumbling voice. "Please settle down so we may begin."

Olivia had come to be comforted by not only his voice but also by the fact that he called them "children". Janus never made her feel like there was something wrong with her for being a metis, he treated her kindly and she flourished under his attention. She wasn't sure how he treated the others he met with, but she loved him for the normal treatment she got. The others in the facility didn't necessarily treat them badly, but there was a definite air that they were different. The word Metis was used often in conversation, as if that would explain all problems or foibles that the children had. Sometimes it was more spat than said as if a curse that could be transferred. Olivia, however, found Janus to be more careful. It was almost like a form of respect for them and she learned to appreciate it more the older she grew.

"Tonight I am going to discuss your First Change." He said and looked around, not seeing any glimmer of recognition he nodded and launched into his speech. "There comes a time in each Garou's life when they experience their First Change. You will be going through a change too but it is vastly different that what other garou will experience. By virtue of being Metis it will probably be a lot harder than most others experience, but it is the start of a great new chapter in your lives. As you know, as adult we have many forms we can change into: homid, glarbro, crinos, hispo and lupus. We can willing shift into any of the forms we choose, but this ability only comes to us after we undergo our first change. Most garou these days are born in homid form, a few still are born in lupus but as metis born children, you arrived in the crinos form. It is the most dangerous form to both the mother and the child; you have all had Gaia's great fortune to have survived. Your first change will happen when your body has reached the puberty stage and something triggers a strong reaction in you. This trigger can be from either a positive or negative experience, but it will cause you to change. Now that you are all in the first stages of puberty you need to be aware of what will be happening to and around you. In very rare cases some will change in the first stages of puberty, but for most it will take a bit longer."

Olivia sat, transfixed as Janus spoke. She had always known that grown garou could shift, but she didn't realize what was involved. As Janus explained the ins and outs he also told them that he was deliberately being vague because each person was different and that the change would be different for each of them. He was trying to give them information without giving them guidelines of what they could experience. She looked carefully over the charts to see what areas would be affected and why. The scientist in Janus refused to let him cover a topic without giving them a major science lesson as well and Olivia was amazed and terrified. She wondered if it would hurt and how they would be able to deal with it, she also wondered how her six foot frame would ever compress down into the itty bitty homid form she was shown.

"Two more things you need to know. First, some of you will under go a big shift in perceived time. After your first change, some of you will retain normal time flow while some of you will begin to age like your lupine cousins. They age and mature faster than we do about four years for every one of ours most of you will however continue to age as you always have." Janus said and then took a deep breath. "The second topic is more difficult to hear. You all currently are aware that all of you have some deformities of one kind or another that are often found among metis, these afflictions were thought to be a curse, but as scientists we know it's just bad genetic splicing. Most of these deformities will carryover when you shift. Since crinos is your breed form, whatever afflictions you have had since birth will follow through to your other forms. Sometimes these afflictions are more serious, some are changed because of the form you take and every once in a small while they can change for the better. I know most of you don't think twice about it, but out in normal garou society others will stare, some will be hostile and you might experience some violence for being only what you are. It is not fair, but it is a by-product of the prejudice in our society. Over the next few years we will be cultivating you to learn to deal with your disabilities and the harshness you will endure. Big changes will be slowly incorporated into your schedules and we wanted to prepare you for them."

Stunned silence filled the room, and as Janus look around, Olivia could almost see him mentally calculating how many extra sedatives would be needed this night. Suddenly the room erupted into questions being asked. Olivia sat quietly digesting all the information, she was afraid of the deformities she would be getting, and did nothing more as the din around her rose in volume. Eventually it reached a deafening clamor and Janus raised a hand.

"Quiet." Janus said softly. "Each of you will be called in for a session over the next few weeks to discuss this more privately. During the meanwhile, if any of you starts to feel oddly, or you do change into either homid or lupus form; please let one of us know right away. You are excused from lessons, and the rest of the night will be recreation."

Cheers erupted as Janus walked away, and Olivia slipped out of the room quietly unnoticed and followed him back to his office, and stood in the open door until he looked up at her.

"Come in." he said with a smile that told her that he had expected her. "What can I do for you?"

"Nothing, I guess." She said folding herself into a sitting position. "It was just a big bombshell of news. So why weren't we warned about this before now? We've been here for years."

"There has been a debate for years, and those of us who thought about telling you from a young age, lost. But the important thing is that you were told before any of you changed. We have not always been so lucky in the past; imagine having dinner and one of your numbers turning into a wolf before your very eyes." Janus said with a gentle chuckle for her. "We will have a session in a few days, primarily so you have some time to think about questions you will have and can ask them. It's a bit much to take in all at once."

Olivia nodded mutely, already the thoughts tumbling and tossing in her head, she opened her mouth to ask a question but Janus placed his hand on hers.

"Go play." Janus chided softly, while he opened the door. "There will be plenty of time to talk about this later."

She smiled at him and walked out, her mind still caught up in big news. She entered the recreation room and grabbed a skipping rope and began to warm up while she jumped rope. She was not graceful to look at but she certainly was good at jumping in her big form, and the best part was she could let her mind blank out and just let her thoughts drift as she jumped. For once she didn't mind being alone, others would have just interrupted her train of thought and she wanted to dwell on the "what ifs?" right now. As thoughts often do hers rambled on flowing from one subject to the next eventually hers drifted towards her latest computer project, trying to make a program platform base that would allow her to interface with the internet through her specially fitted apparatus. She smiled as she realized she had about three blissful hours of freedom, she was finished with her homework so she had plenty of time to herself just to play with her computer.


	2. Chapter 2

Of Metis and Men- Ch. 2

For days after the "big news", Olivia and the other children had expected for other kids to start changing left and right, but nothing that exciting would happen to break up the routine of their highly regimented life. For the first few days after Janus' big announcement, everyone was talking about the First Change and what they figured would happen, the children were waiting with bated breath for the glory of being the first one to change, everyone whether privately or loudly public wanted to be the first. Slowly the enthusiasm gave way to impatience and soon enough even that waned. In the weeks that followed it was casually mentioned but not as often, and after a few months had passed and no one had changed, it was talked about as if it were a broken promise. Olivia heard a grumble now and again about getting hopes up for nothing, but not too much else was said about it. All the steam had been let out of them, and they went back to their normal lives, figuring that the First Change was something else that the grown-ups spoke of that might or might not happen to them because they were Metis. More than one child had overreacted to an ache or sniffle, thinking that they were about to undergo their change, at first everyone would crowd around and watch with an intense fear. Soon enough it was just something that would happen eventually, and more than one child pushed it back into the subconscious recesses of their mind while other more important things took precedence- such as the newest video game and movie.

So when Erica turned into a tiny little girl in the middle of recreation period one night, everyone was properly surprised and impressed. Erica was very much a lively person, despite the fact that she had one short leg and a big knob in the back of her neck she was vivacious, outgoing and pretty popular. She was also one of the hottest tempered girls that Olivia had ever come across or heard of, everyone excused her temper because she was an Ahroun and as a warrior she was supposed to be ferocious but even other ahroun's feared her ire when it was piqued. Olivia had tried to explain more than once that Erica took a perverse pleasure in bullying people but no one seemed to listen and since she wasn't a target, she learned to keep her mouth shut and not become one. She dominated the recreation area in whatever section she wished for the day, and no one ever stopped her, the attendants told the children to learn to play together and the doctors seemed to document it all. Understandably other children feared her and gave her a wide berth especially when the moon was full. Recreation time had been going per normal, Erica and her little crew decided that they were going to make everyone have an extra practice session in hand to hand combat. With a quiet discomfort everyone complied, the moon was at its fullest and no one really wanted to pick a fight, so they gave in. Erica been having them run through basic hand to hand defensive maneuvers for the past hour and a half and it was running as well as could be imagine. Olivia worked with Justin, mostly because he was slow moving and she was less likely to be hit. Despite her wearing a full PVC bodysuit, every once in a while she got gouged, slashed or cut and that was the last thing that Olivia ever wanted to happen. What very few knew was that Olivia was horribly allergic to blood, where as she had not died from the allergy- it was always assumed that it was 'yet'. The allergy was found out when she was just an infant; like most infants her claws/nails grew incredibly fast because of all of the nutrients she absorbed and as she learned how to use her limbs she gouged her cheek. The spreading blood reacted immediately with her skin and huge welts and blisters formed in a matter of seconds. Her eyes swelled up as did her nose and lips, only because her mother had heard her squawks was she saved. Immediate tests were performed, and reveal nothing, until a nurse accidentally scratched her with a needle and the reaction started over again.

So Olivia worked very hard at making sure no blood ever touched her. She let the others taunt her and call her freak, for wanting to wear human clothes when working out. She let them think it was part of her being shy and eccentric. The reality was the suit was itchy, hot and constrained her uncomfortably, but it was one of the few ways to make sure that the important parts of her body were covered. The less people who knew about her afflictions the better, they were all she had for a family but she certainly did not trust most of the other metis around.

Erica had been strutting around and gloating about a particularly good maneuver when she dropped to her knees and began to pant. A low keening howl pressed forth from her lips and chilled Olivia to the bone. Erica curled into the fetal position panting and writhing, her eyes open wide. Olivia thought she was having an aneurism, but what happened next was even more spectacular. When Erica began to shrink bones popped, crunched and make all sorts of noises that roiled everyone's stomach. Fur began to retract into her pores, claws shrunk to fit into a hand that was very human looking, and even more Erica's head shrunk into a small lumpy shape. After about ten minutes, the room was shock still and Erica looked up and around.

She tried to growl to speak but only squeaking noises came out, the human tongue was not really meant to speak lupine. They all looked down at the girl form that stood before them, she was obviously barely pubescent with stringy black hair falling over her shoulders and almost to her waist. Wide eyes looked out from a face that might have been pretty if the sides had been more evenly matched, instead it looked like one side had been raised just enough higher to make her look very lopsided. The knob in the back of her neck made her head tilt to the side a bit, she still had a shorter leg, but it was definitely Erica.

Quickly some attendants covered her in a white soft robe and rushed her off to the medical labs. As soon as Erica was ushered from the room, it burst into a deafening wave of hushed conversations. Everyone had questions, comments and observations about what had happened. Olivia quietly absorbed it all, lost in her own train of thought.

"That was something, wasn't it?" lisped Justin

"Yes, I thought it would have been more instantaneous, not so slow and it looked like it hurt." Olivia said in her quiet voice.

"I wonder what it will be like for me." Justin said with a nod, and then almost in envy "I wonder who will be next."

Justin's words seemed to be echoed by everyone else for the next few weeks. In the smaller classes, even Olivia was included in the conversations as her mates talked about the "First Change". As children often do, the changes got more spectacular and wild as they postulated on what could happen and then the next change did happen and changed their views on everything.

Alicia was the next to change, but she did it in the early morning hours in her own room, so no one really knew all of the details but rumors were aplenty. Her dormer mates were the circle of attention that evening as everyone wanted to know the details.

"She woke all of us up this morning with her howling and crying. She started screaming so loudly that the attendants were there with needles and blankets and all sorts of other carts." A big lumbering boy named Harold said. "She was trying to get out of her room and kept banging against the door. We couldn't understand anything but we have never seen the attendants move that fast. They even covered her up before they took her out."

The children were crazy with speculation over the next few days as Alicia did not return to them. They kept pestering Harold for information, since his room was closest to hers until he snapped and went through his First Change right in front of all of them. Harold was a large boy standing almost ten feet tall, with large protruding teeth, lips and eyes, but his nose was small and shrunken in which gave him a rather comical look. He had bald patches randomly over his body and Olivia thought his deformities were probably more of the severe that she had seen even if they weren't too disabling.

When he changed chaos erupted. He was irritated with all the questions that kept being tossed his way about Alicia. The first day it was cool to be the center of attention but after that he found it annoying, since other kids didn't want to play so much with him as pump him for information. Finally he had had enough and was yelling at poor little Justin when he doubled over in pain. His head shrunk at a rapid rate and to the watching children's horror, blood began spurting everywhere as his teeth didn't shrink as fast enough to compensate and began pushing through his upper jaw and chin. His face then imploded in upon itself, and the screams echoed around the recreation room. Olivia hastily moved back, even more quickly than the other children as blood rained down everywhere, unlike everyone else though, she quietly walked out of the room. Attendants streamed past her, not even seeing her, to get to the injured child. Harold was quickly rushed away and all the children were sent back to their rooms. Olivia quietly snuck down to the medical labs, knowing she could use the excuse of contamination if anyone saw her and hovered breathlessly by the curtains.

"He was lucky this time." One doctor was saying in hushed tones "Nothing major was punctured."

"This time, being the key." Dr Abalene, Olivia's primary doctor said "I don't know that he will be able survive another change. This one almost killed him."

"Doctor, we have a loose bleeder." A nurse interrupted.

Chaos ensued again and Olivia quietly snuck back to her room. Her thoughts churned, she never expected that changing might kill one of them. She always figured that changes would be proportional but who knew with Metis, everyone assumed they were cursed so no one really knew what could happen. The research facility was created for that very purpose, but it was still rather new in the grand scheme of things. In fact Olivia's group was the third out of four installation groups. Each group had about twenty members with their studies starting at different ages. Olivia had been placed her at age four, but some came in as newborns, some after their first change and a few came in as adults. She wondered if maybe something was just wrong with the way the DNA met but she had yet to really understand how it worked, so all she could do is guess. She was so wrapped up in her thoughts; she didn't notice the figures just around the corner from her door.

"Olivia!" it whispered harshly. "What happened to Harold?"

She recognized the voice as Matt, one of her dormer mates, and usually one of the worst for running her over.

"He's in the med labs, and he's really sick. I couldn't see anything at all but I heard them say he might not make it." She whispered back, seeing no reason to hold the truth back. "Then the nurse said he was bleeding and I left because they weren't going to talk anymore."

"Oh." Was all Matt managed to get out before Olivia walked into her room and shut the door.

She tossed and turned that night, dreaming out dramatic and terrible first changes for everyone that she knew. She was afraid of the pain and suffering that seemed to come along with it. She was very afraid that her blood allergy would cause something to go terribly wrong. She woke at four in the morning and decided to just get up rather than chance a dream that might force her into her change. Quietly she got up and made her bed and then sat at her desk and tried to work on a mother board. It was proving difficult for her large hands and sharp claws, but she still plugged away at it a little each day. Personally she thought that her physical deformities were very small compared to the others. Her fur was brown but it had random streaky of red and gold through it. Olivia thought that it made a very pretty pattern but the other children had teased her about it one summer when it had lightened up more and insisted on calling her 'Grandma' all summer long. Her face was pretty normal, excepting the divots between the corner of her mouth and her cheeks – this of course led her being called "crater face" every time someone noticed she smiled, which wasn't often enough to really be harassed about. She really couldn't find too much else wrong with her; perhaps her knuckles were a bit small and her legs muscles developed a bit more oval than square but these were all very private observations. She didn't want the others to think she was stuck on herself, nor did she want to find out what they did to those who irritated them. Olivia knew fights broke out, but she was always out of harms way in her own little corner and she did not ever wish to be the one being the object of anyone's fury.

Two hours later the morning bell woke her from where she had fallen asleep at her work desk. The mood was somber, but considering the events of the last two days it wasn't hard to blame the children, their friends as well as themselves were now ticking time bombs, some would change easily and some awaited untold horrors.

Lessons and training plodded along slowly and Olivia couldn't shake the small headache that had started behind her temple. The tension in the air was palpable and sparks were igniting left and right around her. Even though everyone knew that strong emotional responses could set off the change, all the drama around them couldn't be helped. Despite being five and six feet tall, covered in fur and claws they were still children and very much acted like it. The tense days dragged out into week, and then into months and Olivia was resigned with a sigh that she would probably be last to change, so many around her had already changed and had started with new lessons but she was stuck and growing frustrated. Especially when the last of the boys in her dormer changed, she went to bed depressed that night and convinced she would never change.


	3. Chapter 3

Of Metis and Men- Ch. 3

Olivia finally had something to be excited about, June had finally bothered to roll around and that meant her birthday! While the facility observed most of the human holiday's to accommodate the kin folk, she had never really gotten excited about them. Her birthday was different; she was the only one in the facility with that particular date so it was all hers. She also remembered her last birthday party with her parents, a quiet affair but the love that they lavished on her was worth more than any huge party. Not that she didn't like gifts, in fact her birthday also meant the new computer equipment that she had been pining for over that past three months. She was on serious birthday count down and enthusiastic, so much so that even the other kids around her noticed. There was some teasing but since it happened every year, it became friendlier and less taunting, especially when she was prone to share the goodies.

Olivia knew her parents had died on a mission years ago, but was grateful each year when a goodie basket was delivered to her on her birthday with their well wishing on the card. She knew that Janus must have had something to do with the ordering since each year it was filled not only with sweet treats and the material items she had been pining away for, but also with small reminders that she had loving parents as well. For the last four years it had been all about serious technology. Her own computer, cd players, surround sound, digital camera, program platforms and more had been delightfully received. Some of the other children also received gifts but not many, and it was just one more way to ostracize Olivia from her peers, so she began to make a point to share the sweets, and hide the majority of presents she received in her room.

She was sure to carefully email Janus each time there was a new item that she wanted. To her credit, she always did her homework and compared many brands of the same item to make sure she was getting exactly what she wanted but even still the list was incredibly long this year and it would be more of a surprise than ever. Olivia carefully went over the copy of the list she had printed, and wondered if she should maybe add some lower priced items that could be used as fillers. She wasn't quite sure how much was allocated for her birthday, but quantity sometimes was just as important as quality.

Two days later she was working diligently on her motherboard down in the recreation room, pretending that she could ignore the ten days left until her birthday. Truth was in her head she was already planning on what to do with the new programs and pieces that she knew she would be getting. Wire and solder work took a lot of concentration and with how little she was paying, she often had to scrape clean a mess and start over so time was passing rapidly. She was so wrapped up in her own thoughts that she growled and almost swiped blindly when someone tapped her on the head, it was almost gently.

"Olivia, you're being called."

She looked up into Justin's face.

"I tapped your head so I wouldn't ruin your wires." He lisped.

"Thanks Justin." She said feeling her heart calm back down "Did it say what I was needed for?"

"They called you to Lab room 4." He said "It was just a few seconds ago so you shouldn't be too late."

She nodded, quickly put her project away and moved even faster to the lab rooms. Like every other rule, being called on the PA system expected a prompt arrival and you were only called once. Most of the time it wasn't a problem since Olivia worked in a quiet area, but concentrating really hard often pushed all background noise into one unintelligible din. She was glad Justin had told her, he would probably get a smack or two from some of the others. There were plenty of other children who wanted very badly to see her in trouble. Every punishment was of a public nature, so no favoritism could take place and to serve as example for the others; however Olivia had not had a formal punishment in years. She saw no reason to fight against the rules, so other children tried to trip her up or let her take the fall but so far they were unsuccessful and she very much planned to keep it that way and set out on a full tilt run.

Her heart was hammering by the time she reached the med-lab doors, so she took a few deep calming breaths and walked in. Dr Abalene was sitting at his desk, looking serious as usual.

"Thank you Olivia, I know your free time is precious to you. Have a seat." He said.

She sat posture erect with her hands resting on her legs and looked at him.

"I just need to do some measurements and check your eyes and ears."

The whole procedure took about fifteen minutes and nothing else was said. She was summarily dismissed and left to ponder the odd lab session as she went back to the recreation room. Justin was waiting at the work table when she returned and smiled at her.

"So?" he prompted.

"Just some tests, maybe I have been complaining about my headaches too much." She said a bit puzzled but let the thoughts drift to the back of her mind as she took out her tools. "So would you like to start working on that remote?"

"Yes!" he said enthusiastically "Ever since my last one broke I have been forced to walk up and change the channels myself! I almost scratched my screen."

Olivia shook her head and giggled; some people just couldn't handle technology break downs. She motioned for Justin to bring up a chair and she began to show him the different tools they would be using. He produced his broken remote and slowly they began to exam it from all angles, tracing exactly where the problem was. By bed time a good repair plan was almost put together, but they knew better than to beg extra time so they carefully put the plans away and planned to finish them the next day.

As she made her way back to her dorm, Olivia wondered when she and Justin would finally change. There had been so many children changing now that no one really got special notice unless something really dramatic went on with it, and fortunately those days seemed to be behind them. Most of the children had been returned to their groups per normal with in three days, excepting those few who had harder times; Harold and Alicia never were returned to them, most of the children refused to speak about it and those who did had nothing nice to say but Olivia figured that it meant there were problems the doctors just couldn't fix and they may have been better off not going through it all. All the children understood death, it was taught early and often in their lives, everyone in the Garou nation understood that at some point in their live they would be called to serve Gaia in her fight against evil and that more often than not, fights would end in death. So the notion was familiar but the emotional impact on emotions that were already raging and out of control was a new experience, and a hard one for most of the children to handle.

Privately Olivia thought that the label of metis was a large burden. It was "The Garou nation, oh yea and the Metis too." They were a sub-culture and treated very much with snippiness or else little regard, but they were still expected to fight the good fight like everyone else. The only place they got equal treatment was in dying. She wondered if it would be so easy for other garou to be so prejudiced if the metis' only deformity was sterility, she snorted and shook her head. She knew that no matter what, there would always be some reason justified for treating the Metis with disdain, and she very privately thought to herself that she could understand why so many Metis would join up with the evil ones. From what she could learn and postulate, everyone who wanted was accepted in the Wyrm's camp and from what she could glean; treated according to their actions. Of course this was mostly her own deductions; it's not as if there was a big book of the Wyrm and its habits lying around anywhere.

These were secrets that she did not dare to share with anyone, even at the age of ten, she knew better than to ever postulate her theories aloud, else she might be mistaken to be Corrupted and taken away. Even though she was raised in the facility from the time she was a toddler, they would still take her aside and test her, find out why she thought that way and perhaps that someone had gotten to her before and planted evil thoughts like seeds, which were just now coming to fruition. It was frustrating to her because without being able to talk about the Wyrm and the Black Spiral Dancers, no knowledge was ever passed on and the Garou were left in the dark. Shouldn't you know your enemies as much as possible? It seemed that most of the opposing forces had user manuals for the garou camps, but relatively little was known about the forces of evil and darkness and that just struck her as slightly off kilter. Olivia understood that the world wasn't fair, but that did not mean that she had to like it and couldn't plan on how she might change things if she ever got the chance.

Two days later she turned eleven and her world took on a new perspective. She woke up promptly at five a.m. and excitement flooded through her. She wondered if Janus would be cruel and make her wait until the evening for her gifts but decided no matter what she was going to have a fabulous day. She sat up slowly, making sure there was nothing near her that she might accidentally break in her haste, and then looked around carefully in case he decided to hide her gift. To her absolute delight the goodie basket was sitting clearly on her desk, for her to easily find and access. When she was younger Janus would make it more of a challenge for her and often changed the delivery time, method and location to make it more exciting for her to find; however lately he seemed to understand the need for immediacy. She bound out of bed and gingerly lifted the heavy basket , it seemed to be well packed but she carefully placed in back on the desk and used extreme care so she wouldn't damage her gifts.

One by one she took out all sorts of delights. On the top there were all the sweets, which she would end up giving away not that she minded, she was not a big sweet eater not to mention that her favorites were always hidden away on the bottom. She stopped when her hand encountered a gift wrapped in holographic paper, mentally she ran down her list and couldn't think of anything that might fit the size of the box. Several similarly wrapped packages were underneath it and they were all numbered. Intrigued she gathered the little pile and went over to sit on her bed. Each was carefully wrapped, so she began with number one. By the time she to the fifth and last gift she was truly puzzled. She had gotten a carefully personalized set of headphones, a portable keyboard, several v-chips, and an electric pen made for her hand. As to what they all went to she was giddy to find out. Slowly she opened the last gift, and howled in joyous appreciation. It was the latest PDA handheld, definitely not something on her list, and the best surprise gift she could imagine having. Excitement filled her will a heady rush of energy. She hopped around, very much like the child she was and then sat down and tried each of the implements in her precious PDA, which all worked wonderfully. Olivia knew that Janus would be up early, he usually was and especially so on her birthday, so she immediately rushed to his office, knocked on the door, paused for a moment for permission and went barreling in.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" she chanted over and over. "I never would have guessed, I never even would have thought about it. I love it!"

She sat down to take a breath and then hopped right back up.

"How did you manage to get everything? Never mind I love the surprise, this is perfect: she gushed on.

Janus smiled widely at Olivia as she went over each attribute and the capabilities of the machine. No doubt to anyone that this one was full blooded Glasswalker. If it was technical she delved in with an intensity that surprised most observers. The girl was still prattling on about all the attributes of the device and how she couldn't wait to work with it and make it interface with other equipment and programs that she had.

"Did you know it could also be used for a camera and a phone?" she was saying, when all of a sudden she stopped short, like the wind was knocked out of her.

"Olivia?" Janus asked, rising in concern.

She didn't answer, but was concentrating hard on placing her gift gently on the table as her hand shook. As soon as the PDA was on his desk she slumped to the ground and began panting. Janus quickly called for Dr. Abalene and gathered up a robe, some towels and basic supplies.

Olivia felt like she was being squeezed in a vice, her skin was hot and itchy and she couldn't see or smell anything. She curled in tighter to try to stop the feeling but it wasn't working in fact the opposite was true, she felt like she could feeling everything, from hard tile of the floor to the dust motes from the air settling on her skin. She called out in fear to Janus and to her absolute horror her own voice sounded tinny and small. Her bones kept popping and shifting but there wasn't paralyzing pain like she thought there would b. She wanted to know what was happening to her, but she had her eyes closed tightly as she was too afraid to look at what was happening to her. She was getting colder by the minute and started to shake, everything felt like it was being pressed into a cube, then all of a sudden it just stopped and she lifted her head and opened her eyes.

Everything was in focus but greater detail was missing, color was muted and definition was no where near as sharp as she remembered. Flat would have been the best way to describe anything, and desperately she closed and opened her eyes to see if she could fix them. Dr. Abalene and Janus were talking to her but it sounded muffled and tinny like her ears or head was stuffed with cotton, she kept trying to lean closer to hear them, their words were familiar but somehow seemed distorted. She felt weak, depleted and above all she was cold. She began to shake and curled in on herself, crying out piteously.

"Olivia, just relax you have had your first change and we need to give you an examination to make sure everything is okay." Janus said, but to Olivia it sounded like he was talking through fabric. He repeated the same thing over and over until she stopped calling out.

She nodded slightly and almost hit her head on floor, her shifted form was very light and she made a mental note to try and compensate for the weight difference. They helped her to her feet and gently put a soft cotton robe on her. She insisted on getting to the medical lab on her own two feet, Olivia figured it would be a way to regain some control of the scary situation so in a drunken waddle like a toddler she made it to the medical examination room and lay back on the partially reclined bed. She was left alone as they rushed out to gather various whatever's and took a moment to really look at what she could see of herself. Her skin was a light mocha color and her hands were ugly little stubby things, with short fingers and even shorter claws. Olivia snorted in disgust, how was she supposed to be able to attack anything with hands like that? She turned her hands over time and again, trying to figure out just how they worked, her wrist bones protruded a bit from the side of her hands, but no there was no threat that they were about to pop out of the skin or break.. As she turned her head, thick and heavy hair moved across her neck, unlike Erica's it wasn't stringy or straight, it was full, wavy and made her head hot. She looked down slowly at her feet, they were tiny with short claws there too and the oval muscles that developed in her natural form had carried over. Olivia was impressed that she could walk on them without tipping over they were so small. She opened the robe and continued to reacquaint herself with her body, she had very small breasts, and her stomach was a bit past flat, it actually caved in around her rib cage, and her navel was tucked in. Her legs seemed longer, apparently that was a deformity, and the fur that was on her body was just a light cover over her arms and legs.

Olivia began to worry, she knew her legs were deformed but she couldn't see or feel anything else and wondered if there was something wrong with her face. There was no mirror for her to use, so she fretted. She had watched enough television to know what human looked like, and she began to fret that she was going to look like some little human and not one of Gaia's chosen. She brushed the heavy hair back over her shoulders and tried to brush it with the tiny paddle left on the table. Out of nerves she put one of her claws in her mouth and began her bad habit of nibbling, and was more than shocked when the claw split off between her teeth. She was on the verge of keening her distress, but she took a deep breath of air and tried again to learn more about this new pitiful little form. Soon enough Janus and Dr. Abalene came back in and began their careful examination of her. She quietly sat there while they took all her vitals and then carefully over looked her for over an hour. They whispered in hushed tones, and her stupid ears couldn't make out a thing. They asked her to smell things while being blindfolded, and she was amazed at how dampened smells became. Fresh oranges smelled like week olds, no pungent oils and bitters to tempt her, no juicy fullness when she inhaled, just a stale citrus aroma. Olivia was quickly becoming disgusted with this weak form.

"Would you like a mirror?" Janus asked.

Olivia tried to say yes, but was finding it hard to form words with a homid mouth, so she nodded. She took the mirror and looked carefully into it, ever watchful for some deformity. She had small face, with clear bright wide eyes that were a dark brown. The red and gold of her fur had transformed in her hair and framed her face. Her nose was small but well set in her face. Her moth was generous, but not overly wide and when she smiled, she saw even white teeth, but the divots on her cheeks still remained. Her chin was a bit prominent and her cheekbones were easily seen, but nothing seemed too amiss.

"Am I okay?" she asked, well tried too what came out were incoherent sounds and the howled in frustration, and to her relief at least that was possible.

"Calm, Olivia. It will take time for you to learn to speak with your new mouth, just like it took time for you to learn human speech." Janus said. "We can find nothing wrong with you, but we keep each child three days and run various tests to make sure we have not missed anything."

She nodded and lay back, wondering what she was going to do for three whole days in the med labs. She couldn't even talk to anyone, she was starting to get grumpy when Janus held out something to her. Her face lit up as she saw her PDA, and her smile grew wider as she realized she could use it without all the crinos friendly attachments. Suddenly three days wasn't enough, oblivious to all around her Olivia opened the package, getting ready to use her new hands and began to learn.


	4. Chapter 4

Of Metis and Men- Ch. 4

During the next three days Olivia was poked, prodded, stared at and questioned so much she thought she was going to scream. Every time some one pulled back the curtain she knew she was in for hours of tests, even having her new toy to keep her occupied didn't help when testing began. She had had enough blood taken that she was beginning to feel dizzy and weak and soon after she started to lose her temper at the smallest infraction, and instead of the doctors getting upset with her, they seemed to be studying what happened to her and how she reacted instead. When she got super frustrated she got shaky, irritable, and nervous and began to pace a lot. Janus explained the feelings as warnings for the first stages of going into frenzy and asked her to calm herself before she had an experience she didn't really want just yet, since they weren't sure how she would react, they didn't want to push her into something that might damage her. In fact, he warned her that it might give the doctors more reasons to do tests on her. Olivia calmed herself and quiet quietly brooding, she looked up at Janus with pleading eyes. He offered her something to keep her interested. Instead of being forced to lie in bed all day and be a pin cushion, she would start having some private lessons. She quickly jumped on the opportunity, with Janus swearing her to privacy, and looked forward to the new challenge. Anything was better than what she was doing currently.

"We are about to increase your learning ten fold, we want to know what happens when you shift into your other forms so you will begin with a private tutor." He said to her quietly. "I know you are a smart girl, so do me proud and really learn to do this well Olivia."

It was the first actual request of any magnitude that he had made of her, so she buckled down her whining about being prodded and began to pay attention. Four times a day she was taught to shift, she was told repeatedly that not only would it get easier to shift the more she did it, but it would also be easier to stay shifted and learn the habits and mannerisms of the shifted form. To get back to "normal" she had to think of relaxing and just being herself. To change into "shifted" form, she had to take all of her intensity and focus it into the core of her being and think hard of being homid. The extreme ends of shifting were much easier for her, she knew what a wolf looked life and she knew what a girl looked like, but the in between forms caught her off guard. Glarbro was like a cave woman, and was a step up from homid as far as Olivia was concerned. There was at least strength, stamina and some power. Thought was a bit diminished but she could definitely fight in this form. Hispo was actually one of her favorites, but she had never really seen a picture of a cave wolf so the concept was a bit fuzzier in her head, making it harder for her to learn. Hispo was a powerful form though, jaws were almost as strong as her natural form, large legs and feet with claws gave her a new style of fighting and the howls she could sound resonated loudly. She was encouraged to shift as much as she could without exhausting herself, as well as to start building up her stamina to stay in the forms as long as she could. Soon enough shifting very much became second nature to her, taking less energy than she believed it would and she began to incorporate the skills she had when she was normal into these shifted beings she could become. Homid was still very much her least liked form, it was puny, weak and completely inefficient, but still she practiced with it. As far as Olivia was concerned, homid form was only good for skipping rope.

Gradually it dawned on Olivia that she had been in the medical rooms quite a while: the three days bled into five and then into eight. Olivia didn't think much about it because she was constantly busy, she still had lessons and shifting practice and her new PDA to keep her busy so didn't think her isolation strange until two of the newer doctors stood outside her curtain and spoke in hushed tones. She had just shifted to homid form for the third time that day, with it going quickly and smoothly, it was much faster for her to use her PDA with homid hands (she giggled when she realized it was called a handheld because it really did fit into the homid hand!) Olivia strained to hear the conversation frustrated that she might be missing good parts, when she realized that she did have a good way to eavesdrop, so she smiled conspiratorially to no one, took a breath and then relaxed back into crinos, hoping that the creaking of the bed didn't give away her actions and scare away some good gossip. Eagerly she then sat back with her perfectly good enhanced hearing to see what they had to say.

"Nothing, absolutely nothing! She has not a single deformity anywhere on her body" the shorter one said

"Not nothing, she still has that rare blood allergy. Not to mention being a strict carnivore. I have not ever seen another garou so restricted to gaining nutrition from meat only. Toss that in along with her blood allergy and she really can't even enjoy the meat she eats, it all has to be thoroughly cooked. Perhaps Gaia found that to be enough for one of her warriors to bear." The taller one said. "Face it the child is not only perfectly normal looking, she is quite attractive by any standard."

"Perhaps it is like Bergman case?" the short one asked after a long pause, sounding perplexed. "I mean can this really be the extent of her deformities?"

"The Bergman case was extremely different, that one looked normal but was as crazy as a loon, we have run every test known to Garou and man with her. All we have come up with is that the girl has a high IQ, eidetic memory, not to mention technological aptitude that rivals some of the best human minds around." The tall one said. "I think it is time that she goes back into the fray and shows she survives. There will probably still be the jealousy over her normalness as well as some problems from the Garou as well as kin, since she has dared to be nice looking. I don't envy this girl her new life or tasks, this is going to either make or break her."

"Well I still think we should run a few more tests. I mean we know that lunacy runs stronger in the metis line because of all that inbreeding. Honestly we as Garou as a dying breed, and so our gene pool is much more depleted than any one of us would admit to. Perhaps her insanity needs a trigger."

"Which other tests? If you can tell me what poking her one more time will accomplish I will order it, if not it is time for her to get back with the other children." The taller one said, earning Olivia's abject gratitude. "She is working with a handicap of magnitudes that we don't even understand. Too much blood anywhere on her body makes her react horrifically, and if it were to cover her nose and mouth she would suffocate. She is a warrior of Gaia who won't be able to fight for the cause. There is little glory to be had by this one; I think she will have enough to deal with, without you trying to prove that she is crazy as well. Let well enough alone and let her get back to her life."

Olivia sat stunned for quite a few moments and then worked on shifting back to homid before the doctors would enter the curtain around her bed. To her relief they walked on and saw to another patient. Her mind was buzzing with all the information that they had just given her. What did they mean no deformities? She had found quite a few, they seemed to pepper her homid form more clearly than the other forms, and yes they were small but she also did have the blood allergy, not to mention that she was on the all meat diet. She sighed knowing that she was going to be going back to her daily schedule- just when she was getting quite used to more free time to play with her PDA.

Janus came to her the next morning and told her that she would be returning to her room and a new schedule. Apparently the last of her dormer mates had undergone their change in the ten days that Olivia was in the med labs. Since all five of them were on the same page, their lessons now included etiquette, dining, foreign languages, posture and blending in. Training incorporated their new forms and gave them new fighting styles. Their Weapon's Master was metis himself and explained to them, that when a Garou frenzied, they turned into their crinos form- which was a benefit. They however would not have that benefit, their natural form was crinos, so when they frenzied they would shift into either homid or lupine form, and in the middle of a battle that could be deadly if they did not know how to fight in the form they were in. He explain that if they could stop and think for a moment that they could relax enough to return to their natural form and that would be best, but he was there to prepare them for the worst case scenario.

The weapon's master, Belt Clip, took Olivia aside and told her that she would only be training part time with the boys. He had a special weapon in mind for her because of her unusual allergy. She was going to need something that would make other's give her a wide berth so no one would even try to get close to her, and he had the perfect weapon in mind for her. He began the lesson with all five of them, but Olivia's mind was clearly on the weapon that she would be learning. Belt Clip made sure to partner with her, so she wouldn't be cut by one of the rowdy boys and slowly they learned how to use their smaller and more agile bodies fight for them. Blocking, feinting, and attacking were drilled into them until sweat covered their bodies and their muscle screamed with over use.

During her first night back in the recreation hall, Olivia for once in her life was surrounded by a group of children. They questioned her long stay, and she said that her deformities were on the inside and the doctors needed to make sure nothing bad would happen to her. She went into absolute gory detail about being poked, prodded and made to go through all sorts of tests didn't feel bad for lying to them, since it was only a half lie, her blood allergy was on the inside. Soon they left her alone and Olivia went over and picked up her jump rope. There was something soothing to her about jumping so she began, about ten minutes in the crazy thought went through her head to try it in homid form. Taking a breath she concentrated on squeezing her essence into the tiny form and a few seconds later she was in girl form – and quite naked. The cool air on her skin caused little bumps, and the memory of attendant rushing to cover her up made Olivia wonder if there was something wrong to not be clothes in homid form. When the attendants noticed her, one quietly and quickly excused himself from the run, embarrassed Olivia quickly shifted back to crinos, hoping no one else, especially other children, saw that blunder. She made a mental note to ask Janus about the clothing problem at their meeting the next day and went to the work tables where she began to learn her PDA all over again with her crinos adapters on it.

Each child had private counseling sessions with an adult; Olivia looked forward to these times because she felt like Janus treated her like an adult, and really understood her. He never laughed at her ideas, grew impatient with her plethora of questions nor demeaned her. When Olivia asked about clothes, he gently explained the Rite of Dedication, which she didn't understand all of- but at least he explained it. He then began to explain about Gifts and talents that the garou had and that metis also had the same abilities, and soon they would be going through their First Rite, which would prove them worthy to have these gifts and talents. Olivia was excited about the new information, confused from trying to understand it all and quite leery since all the Rites she had ever read about had involved great risk and the possibility of death. Then again she really doubted there was any sort of "Welcome to being homid form Garou" handbook and everything was conjecture.

She asked him about the deformities she had discovered on herself and waited for explanations. Olivia wasn't sure what she really wanted to hear, the truth or some soothing explanation to clam her fears. She was very careful not to tell him that she had overheard the other doctors. Despite what they had said she knew that she had deformities like the others and was beginning to feel some sort of kinship because for once she was fitting in, but Janus sat her down with a gentle smile. He asked her to point out any of the deformities she had found and he would tell her what other homid forms would think about them. True to form, Olivia had made a list and rapidly pointed out each misshapen lump on her body.

"The divots on your cheeks are called dimples, and many people would love to have them, they are considered to be a mark of beauty amongst humans. Your legs are just fine, the oval shapes to the muscles are usually found in very dainty women. Your nails are supposed to be short, and not as long as your claws, this enables you to use your fingers much easier. Your chin is not too small, that's just the way it is shaped. Your ears are supposed to lie flat against your head and yes tiny is fine and will not give you dampened hearing. Your eyes were not damaged by darkness and supposed to be light in color, in human people eyes come in a wide variety of colors. Olivia your only issue is your allergy to blood- and it is quite deadly enough that I cannot imagine Gaia giving you else to deal with. You will prove much in your service to her as you learn to fight the Wyrm and yet keeping yourself from injury." Janus said smoothly. "Enjoy the fact that you are okay. Now some will be upset that you dare to look so normal while being Metis, but enjoy what you can. You look perfectly fine and there are no deformities I can find what so ever."

She blanched upon hearing his proclamation; she had so looked forward to finally being accepted because she had something with the others to share, and in the end again she was the outcast one, lonely in her normalcy. She slid down in her seat and sighed, prompting Janus to spend more time soothing her about her situation. He finally was able to convince her that she was perfect in Gaia's eyes and that was all that mattered. At the end of Olivia's session she asked Janus if it might be possible for her to get some dedicated clothes, so that she could practice more in human form without the worry of shredding her miniscule homid clothing collection each time she reverted to natural form. He smiled but promised nothing, telling her as always to becareful around the others since they couldn't possibly understand her unique nature. She asked again playing up the angle that the attendants wouldn't like it if she were to start walking around naked and that she was only thinking of them, and for some reason that put a glimmer of _something_ in Janus' eyes. Olivia thought she recognized it as fear, but why would Janus fear her walking around with out clothes in front of the attendants, she did so all time in her natural form. But she could have been wrong, because when she next looked up into his eyes, the look was gone and it was replaced by the calm and cool Janus she knew. He told her that he would do her this one favor and get her a few sets of dedicated clothing and that they would work on options for her to always have something when she shifted since she obviously concerned about it. She walked back to her room slightly in a daze, she knew that she was different, and somehow that was baffling to everyone around her. Even more was the fact that Janus gave in to a form of blackmail that he never had before, normally he would have laughed it off and told her not to be glib, but she had stuck a chord in him and she wanted to know why.

Olivia was beginning to think that the whole shifting and shifted form thing was not exciting but rather a pain in the behind. It became a primary focus with their teachers and lessons, everything had to do with being shifted, they were to practice it always so they could stay in shifted form, it was almost as if their teachers didn't want to see them in anything but their shifted forms and speaking human and acting human. She wanted to scream that they weren't human but it would only serve to have her get "special" attention and she wasn't sure she was brave enough to cross that frontier so she sat quietly and learned. Quietly she learned to put her gifts to use, her photographic memory came in handy as she began to focus on documents that were left around, she began to keep a small diary of thoughts and ideas and used her love for technology to make it much harder to break into, not to mention keeping with her as much as possible. Her curiosity had been aroused and she now wanted it sated.


	5. Chapter 5

Of Metis and Men- Ch. 5

Olivia was quietly proud of herself. In the past months she had gotten a good grasp on the English language and its pronunciation, not that it was easy. She worked each day on a multitude of exercises including taping her own voice so she could analyze the patters and do away with the guttural sounding inflections. She felt a fierce surge of pride when both Janus and Dr. Abalene had mentioned that she spoke nearly as clearly as any foreign student. She was also privately gathering up all the information on the Egyptian language she could find. Her parents had spoken both growl speak and Egyptian with her during the time she had lived with them, and she found the learning as a way to feel close to them again. Once they were sent away for their mission she was taken to the facility and she soon forgot what she had known. Olivia was surprised at how quickly things locked away in the brain could come back; she worked very hard to get adept with her homid language skills.

She had drug Justin along to be coached because she wanted someone to practice with and since Justin's change he was much more withdrawn and aloof towards the other children. She had had to bully him into coming with her, something that normally would have been laughable, but nothing else seemed to work. In fact there was a great shift of popularity and power in the facility. It was a subtle and quiet change, but the staff had begun to treat certain children differently. Olivia knew she was one to receive some of the benefits but as always she continued to keep to herself, she didn't care how "normal" she looked, she was still herself and couldn't risk the fury of another child that would cause blood splatter. The other children were much more brazen about their favored or special treatment and soon enough small fissures of dissention had begun to grow and color their relationships.

Justin's change had been rather terrifying and he quickly had decided that staying to himself was the only way to stop the harassment, he had only confided in Olivia because she was relentless in talking to him. His change was triggered in absolute terror because his dormer mates had gone through some severe reactions when they changed. Mari had changed but instead of being homid form, she changed into lupine; the over long teeth, huge paws and insane raging beast had made Justin and his dorm mates her targets. As the teacher and attendants were getting control of Mari, Felicia had changed. It was just as terrifying as her body turned lupine and her head homid. Her eyes shone with a deranged light and the high pitched hysterical laughter was neither wolf nor human. She writhed on the ground holding her head with her paws and continued to laugh and laugh. The girls were sedated and taken away, while he Al and Jane had watched on horrified. At some point during the night Jane had changed, but Justin stayed in his room with the door shut and the pillow firmly jammed over his ears. He forced himself to lie there and concentrate on relaxing while he listened to her scream. He and Al were alone in their dorm for a week because all the girls were still being treated., The other children had started to call his dorm the "Crazy House" because all three of the girls who had changed had ended up quite insane, thus all eyes were on him and Al to see if they would turn out crazy too. So Justin started having loud nightmares about changing and what would happen to him. When Al changed in the middle of afternoon lessons, Justin's nightmares suddenly became real, so he cringed and tried to flee. Al had other plans for him and tried to wrap a metal desk around Justin, the gleam of insanity lit up his face and he began to chase Justin around trying to turn him into a pretzel. Justin, through sheer terror and exhaustion, changed himself.

He did not go insane like his dormer mates, but with all of the horrors that were to await him, it might have been easier on him if he had. His huge lumbering form tried hard to squash down into a large lupine form, but the hip bones wouldn't shrink, so they broke and cut through his skin. His fur fell out in huge tufts, leaving raw oozing skin exposed. The fur that remained had a singed look and smell, which upon further exploration it was later learned that the pus oozing from the raw skin was highly acidic and was literally eating away at him. His eyes and soft tissue of his nose were assaulted by the fumes and when he touched his face with his hands, his fingernails split and more pus oozed from them, spreading the acid even more. Being metis meant he had accelerated healing, so damage was continuously being done and then healed. His head was a mass of bumps that were visible even through his hair and the eyes; snout and ears were much too large for the rest of his body. His body was tiny and frail looking almost as if they shrunk his body as a joke. His face looked like a cartoon wolf with the extended eyes and puffy snout but the worst of it was that his vocal cords were warped. In crinos form he lisped, in lupine form even the howls and growl speech were unintelligible. He wobbled and stumbled trying to gain his balance before the attendants came rushing in.

He admitted to Olivia that the only reason that he didn't go insane from the pain was because once he passed out; he reverted to crinos form and the agony stopped. However nothing could convince him to change again. Olivia had snuck in to see him, and often stayed to eavesdrop on the doctors whenever she could. She was appalled, but not shocked to learn that at least one parent of each child in Justin's dorm, had some lineage of mental instability. She also learned that the other three dorms were also arranged with by lineage, but the doctors never discussed just what the others were categorized by, Olivia spent many hours trying to figure it out but in the end there were just too many variables. She did agonize over a few days whether or not to tell Justin what she had learned, but soon she rationalized that she probably would not wanted to have known, it was bad enough that everyone was calling them the crazies anyhow. Since Justin had managed to change and not go crazy Olivia kept her lips firmly shut. Some things were just better left unsaid.

The Justin that came back to the recreation room was so quiet and different; Olivia feared that he was emotionally scarred. Quietly she talked to him, persuading him to hang out with her and keep her company. She reminded him over and over of their friendship and how much she liked having him near by. Soon Justin followed Olivia's example and they kept to themselves as much as possible, after a few weeks she finally confided in Justin that she thought that the dorm assignments should be switched around and now that they had all changed, they should have the choice of who their dorm mates would be. Justin thought it was a wonderful idea and then gave Olivia the needed pep talk into talking to Janus about it. The next day was fraught with tension as Justin pointedly ignored the nasty taunts and leers from the other children while Olivia was off being uncharacteristically bold and telling (not asking!) Janus that she wanted Justin to be part of her dorm and that he and the doctors should think about offering dorm changes now that everyone had made it past their first change. She could tell that Janus was trying very hard to look put out at her audacity, but in the end everyone was given the chance to move to another area if there was a vacancy. Olivia managed to convince her dormer mates to move on; she had gone for convincing all four of the boys because she never imagined that any of them would want to leave without the others. She was very much the odd one out, the boys did everything together, so not surprisingly they all decided to move in with Erica who had bullied out her other dorm mates and made very bold announcements that she would have to approve of her new dorm mates and anyone interested so come and speak with her. So Olivia was left alone and happily she began to recruit dorm mates herself. Of course Justin was number one on the list and as they sat in the recreation hall, they tried to figure out who they could live with for the next seven years. She and Justin decided that Tim and Brynne would be nice additions and fit well to their group.

Everyone's requested changes were approved with no conflict of interests. In fact there ended up being two extra beds because Harold and Alicia had not made it through their changes. Instead of evenly occupied dorms, two of the dorms had four children and two had five, a fact that quietly sobered the children. They had often studied and been told about the hard life of the Garou, all the dangers and all of the hardships, but the reality of the changes had brought the message home hard and forced them to really understand that the danger was real. Despite the gloomy reminder, the children were excited to be moving around, it was their first chance to make a decision for themselves.

Tim was a fairly quiet person, who had a large head with bulging eyes, lips and nose. Ever since his change things had been a bit harder for him. His head became so large that he had to wear a specially formed brace on his neck and shoulder to help support the mass, in homid form he looked like a cartoon person. His body was tiny in comparison, and he had brittle bones that could break even bumping into things, so his coordination was stilted and jerky. However his big head housed a big brain and he was a huge problem solver, unfortunately his mind worked so fast that it was hard to keep him engaged for long, so he hopped from subject to subject and often multi-tasked enough projects to fill a normal person's month. Changing merely enhanced these attributes. Talking to him worsened from a slight torture to near impossible to understand as only about a quarter of the information he was processing actually made it from his brain and out his mouth. Asking Tim to answer a question was like using Niagara Falls to brush your teeth. Olivia had found, through much trial and error, that it was better to have a pen and paper and make him use bullet points. The act of writing made him slow down enough for her to grasp the concepts.

Brynne was as solid as they came; she easily stood ten feet tall, was as wide as two of Olivia side by side and was still growing. Aside from her huge size, Brynne also had an arthritic type of disease in all of her joints that was just in the beginning stages. The pain was still manageable most days without any drugs, but only because she forced herself to get up each morning and go through a series of stretches that calmed down the inflammation that set in to her joints anytime she was still for a long while, and she knew that it would only get worse. Communicating with her with difficult because her jaw wanted to lock up each time she didn't use the hinges for more than half hour, it took her a few sentences to get her mouth muscles to warm up and to work properly again. Because of this Brynne was rather quiet, so most thought she was just too stupid or that she really wasn't worth their time to start a conversation because it would take too long and left her out of their conversations. Olivia knew better and had formed a quiet friendship with the girl a few years ago, and now that they were free to move their rooms, she quickly invited the girl in and told her that if they didn't find a fifth person that she would help Brynne convince Janus to cut down a wall, giving her two rooms and ample space.

The weekend designated for the moves was rigidly orchestrated and went smoothly, with Olivia helping her new dorm mates move their possessions since she was staying put. She also made it a point to clean out the bathroom since the boys had left it an absolute pig sty. She did understand that the move was really a big deal since most of the children had lived in the same rooms for almost nine years at the most and seven for the least. It was the first time that they had to go through belongings, pack and decide whether or not to toss something or kept it. Olivia was like the little dorm mother as she assisted everyone in getting settled in. She made sure that fresh linens and towels were available as well as checking in as each new person unpacked to welcome them. She found didn't mind because she knew that with her new dorm mates life for her would be a lot easier. She truly liked each person and knew that their personalities should work well for most of the time. Also they each had similar interests, but their talents were wide and varied, so they could be close if they chose or be individual. In Olivia's mind it was the perfect situation. They could end up being a pack and she wanted to have some people around her that she could work up trust with.

For the first few weeks, the new dorm mates all around acted like established packs and dominance was quickly established. Erica, Matt and their three dorm mates had made it a point to bully the other children around to ensure that they were feared. They were going to be the Alpha pack in the recreation hall and everyone else had better know it. Since there was no intervention by the attendants nor any of the doctors, Olivia figured that they were being observed, yet again, to see how things played out. She also knew that if anything got deadly someone would step in to stop it. It still didn't help the evening that she and Justin were sitting at a work table, carefully trying to reconstruct his still defunct remote control. They had their heads bent intently discussing their plans to repair when Matt walked over and brushed the remote to the ground, causing it to scatter into many pieces on the ground since the casing was open.

"What are you doing?" he sneered, leaning against the table in a dominating pose.

"Nothing now, since you threw everything on the floor." Olivia said, used to his gruff.

"Well maybe you should be building me something so I can understand your new spaz friend." He said, nodding over to Tim.

"Maybe you should leave and let us finish our business." Justin said irritate, as he picked up the pieces of his remote.

"What did you say to me crazy boy?" Matt snapped, feeling his power a bit too much.

Olivia was about to say something when Brynne came walking up, stood behind her dormer mates and looked down at Matt.

"You be flat, go now." Brynne said, working out the stiffness in her jaw as she spoke. "Don't mess with mates again. Pompous freak! Go before I break you into little piece and tell the rest of your group to leave me and mine alone."

Matt didn't even bother to try to posture for her, he tucked tail and left.

"Thanks Brynne. " Olivia said "I wasn't looking forward to an altercation."

"Glad to be of assistance." Brynne said with a twinkle in her eyes "It's why you wanted me to be in the dorm with you huh?

"Actually, it was so you could reach my stuff on top of the armoire." Olivia said with a giggle.

"What are you working on?" Brynne asked as she chuckled.

"Justin's remote, come sit and we can talk while we fix it." Olivia said, gesturing to a chair. She had learned that once Brynne started talking, she liked to converse a while because the procedure of loosening her jaw hinges enough to talk lucidly was so painful.

The three of them sat working and talking quietly for an hour, until Tim came up and interrupted them with a stream of thoughts. Olivia handed him a tablet and asked him to write down his questions and then read them off to the others. He was curious about what they were doing and wondered if they could have intercoms in their rooms, whether or not they were going to form a pack, what they thought of their homework assignment and if they wanted to join him in the cafeteria for a late snack. The small group agreed to go to the cafeteria and talk along the way. Olivia was starting to feel like this group would work well for her, and that she might even have an assertive voice with them sometimes. In fact she thought that everyone was getting along better since they were in a group where they weren't ostracized. Out of their starting group of twenty; four were insane, five were bullies, two were dead, the other ten were tossed somewhere in the middle of metis normalcy and then there was Olivia. She kept wondering just what was wrong with her, whether some hidden disease was going to just pop up one day and do something to her, or maybe her blood would turn toxic and eat her from the inside out. The hushed comments of the doctors the day of her change made her wonder, was she really the only metis to look "normal"?

Olivia didn't worry so much about it as she began to settle into the new phase of her life. The schedule was maintained of course, but had gotten increasingly harder as time went on. They had to learn how to master all of their forms and the weak homid form was the most challenging. She was often disgusted with being in the form at all, it was weak, broke easily and if something got hurt even a bit the whole stupid body would go into shock from it. Her natural form was a much sturdier model and she was used to using it so she was often frustrated in the tiny petite model that she was forced to work with. It wasn't until Janus reminded her that people were homid and the only way to fit in was to master the form did she relax and work with all the frailties that it presented. She did notice that she was pretty adept at the gymnastics portion and soon was able to tumble around, talk on narrow surfaces and twist her body into positions that tended to make the doctors cringe.

Quietly things fell into place, the new dorm situations were working out just fine with the children. Olivia began to wonder what would be next on the agenda. Obviously they would not be kept in the institution forever and she wondered where they might be placed. She went for her weekly meetings with Janus and the first few times she tried to pose the question he deftly maneuvered the conversation away. By the third or fourth time she got frustrated and just point blank asked him, he seemed nervous almost and repositioned himself in his chair a few times before telling her that he really wasn't sure what would be happening with them. No hard plans were made because no one was sure what would happen when their group changed. She scoffed openly at him, and told him that since they weren't possibly the first to go through that some plan must have been laid, to which he gave her a high suspect and guilty look before quickly turning his head and the topic. She tried to press the issue and for once in their relationship he had gotten gruff and loud with her.

"Olivia! Enough with the questions!" he had snapped "You are a child and therefore knowing everything is **_not_** your right. Now let's focus on the exercises I have for you."

"But Janus…" she had started to say.

"If you choose not to cooperate then we are done. You may be excused back to your room until evening meal." He had said, stood abruptly and walked out of the room.

Olivia sat there in shock for a few moments, looking out the open door then slowly stood up, glared hard up at the camera lens and then strode out of the room. She went back to her own room, put on her headphones and mentally cursed about everything. She would have liked to skip evening meal but her stomach had other plans. Her upset rolled off of her in waves and even her dorm mates gave her space. Matt leered at her once and the look she gave him back must have near peeled the skin off his nose because he quickly turned his head and found someone else to pick on. She ate little, said less and when excused from the table she went back to her room to sulk. For the first time since she could remember she skipped her evening tests, determined that if they really wanted to test her that they would have to come to her for once No one came for her and she stewed all night long. She finally became tired of pacing around two in the morning and went to bed. As she drifted off to sleep, she wondered idly if the look on Janus' face was guilt, or it was fear for her future.


	6. Chapter 6

Of Metis and Men – Ch. 6

Two and a half years later found Olivia running through the woods, topside of her home, quickly. She panted and had a stitch in her side but still she ran for all she was worth. Her hand tightly gripped a small piece of paper, and she knew she had mere minutes to make it back into the building. With her heart pounding and time ticking away, she opted to make a risky move and shifted mid-stride. The small wolf bound quickly towards the building and she shifted quickly back to girl form and slid under the door as it ground down into its locked position. She grinned as the felt very much like Indiana Jones, minus the hat, and pushed herself back onto her feet. The race didn't stop there, nor did Olivia; she ran quietly through the corridors, slid a pass key through the lock and as the door opened pressed herself through the space as it opened. Janus looked at her as she walked into his office and put the piece of paper on his desk.

"Four minutes faster than last time, you are getting better." He said with a smile, reading over the note.

Olivia flopped into a chair; reverted back to Crinos with a suppressed groaned and nodded while she caught her breath. She was settling into her chair when she caught the look Janus was giving her, with a silent grumble she shifted back to the much hated homid form. It was no use arguing, she knew that because Janus had told her time and again that she would have to get used to being in homid form for long stretches of time. No matter how often she did it, she still could not get used to being in that weak and useless form. Even when it was only sitting still in a chair, it felt to her like minutes stretched into hours. She privately continued to think that the form was only good for using a PDA, computer and jump rope. Other than that it was a weak and too breakable form.

"How many more of these trials do I have to do?" she asked, once she had caught her breath. "Shouldn't I be out in the world stealing things and so on and so forth?"

"I'm not sure, but with the progress you are making I'm sure they will only get harder." Janus said and then grinned at her "Stealing? Bah, give us some credit Olivia! You know you love a challenge, not to mention you are one of the few elite who get this fabulous training adventure."

"Oh yes, being picked to be a spy is so fabulous!" She grinned at him "Somehow I think intensive training would not quite be described as fabulous."

"You love it." He said winking "It forces you to think on the move and makes you adapt. Face it; you were getting bored because you are smart."

"True." She admitted "But I don't get to see my friends as often as I like."

"Well that was rather for your safety." Janus said softly.

Olivia nodded, remembering well why she needed that safety. It had started with a bizarre change in her living environment, one that they facilitators didn't even see coming. For some reason things had gone down hill quickly after everyone had changed and moved room assignments. Odd behavior had almost become the norm; the children would become aggressive over the smallest of infractions. More fights and outbreaks had happened than ever before. It seemed that no matter what the staff tried, someone was up in arms about something nearly every day. For almost two years the staff had tried differing methods of control but slowly each one failed, it was never said but Olivia felt that there was something very wrong and that somehow it had been caused by the facility they lived in and not some anomaly from being Metis.

Erica and her pack had by default become the Alpha pack of their age group. No one had contested this, fearing retaliation and so the rest fell into line, with Olivia and her dormer mates being the Omegas. Not really caring who pretended to be in charge, Olivia spent just as much if not more time with her computers. She and Justin were becoming quite a good team for fixing broken things, so they were normally left alone , not to mention having Brynne as a body guard was a good deterrent as well. All in all, her dorm just wanted to be left to their own devices.

Olivia had been working on a new attachment for her PDA when Brynne lumbered up to her. She quickly began tapping away on the keyboard Olivia had made for her. Over the years the girls' arthritis in her jaw was so bad that it actually caused her jaw to break when trying to speak, so Olivia taught her how to use the keyboard to speak instead. And Brynne always had a lot to say to her, being able to communicate without pain was a great relief, so she often spent time by Olivia's workbench and chatted with her. As if all of the chaos of the other children wasn't bad enough, it seemed that Brynne was able to hear the thoughts of others. Of course Olivia tried to remain neutral but when Brynne confronted her with her own thoughts of skepticism, she quickly believed and was comforted to know that the girl was mature enough to forgive her thoughts she never said.

As any good friend would, Olivia tried to help Brynne learn to control it, focus it and use it to her advantage. It was nice to know when Erica and her crew were going to try to corner and jump one of them, better even yet to learn what the doctors were thinking. Of course Brynne's new ability was sworn to secrecy amongst the dorm mates and no one ever talked about it unless they had ample white noise cover. As time went on, the ability became stronger and the girl began having more and more trouble turning it on and off. It was literally beginning to drive her crazy to hear all the projected thoughts of those around her, and finally after a particularly bad lunch experience, Olivia convinced her that Janus had to know. Two years later it was a wild thing: sometimes on, sometimes off but always loud and annoying. Drugs helped to keep it under control somewhat but not enough that Brynne wanted to socialize with the other children, so she was granted permission to stay in the dorm except at meals.

Cruelly fate deemed that it would be Olivia, without the power to hear thoughts, was to hear the most damning thing ever. She had been at her bench when she heard the plot. Erica and Matt were in a corner close to her workbench talking in hushed tones. They happened to be arranged so acoustically that the walls were transmitting every word they said to Olivia. They were planning a big break out; they had finally figured out that their group of Metis could easily overpower those guarding them. They planned to bully the others into submission, and beat down those who opposed. Apparently they knew that Olivia had been taken "up and out" and figured that security wasn't as tight as they had been led to believe. Erica outlined the plan in specific detail, Olivia was secretly amazed she was able to put that much thought into anything, and Matt even tried to poke holes in the plan. Once they were certain the plan would work they set a time and date. Olivia gasped lightly because it would be on the next full moon, Erica's peak power time of course. She was quickly snatched up by Erica, who had heard the gasp and not so subtly threatened with her life is she even so much as breathed a word. In fact Erica planned to keep a very close eye on Olivia, even escort her until the time of the escape to make sure nothing was accidentally spilled.

The next few days were uncomfortable for Olivia, she was miserable and when Brynne came by, she knew that her thoughts were screaming but so was her plea for silence. She figured if she could just make it through the next few weeks, things would be fine. She was not stupid enough to announce that she wouldn't go along with the plan; however Olivia had no desire or plans to leave the only home she had ever known. She stayed nice and quiet around Erica. She made sure that she stuck to her normal schedule and tried to be as unthreatening as possible. Two weeks went by without incident and then Fate decided to be not so kind. Olivia was taken out of the dorm and up to the first floor. It was all very hush, hush – which of course means by the time she made it to the elevator everyone knew she had been taken and the look on Erica's face chilled her. To her utter amazement she was taken outside and being outside almost made her forget it, because once she stepped out into the yard she almost overloaded on the new stimuli. She had never been so she looked around in awe at everything; it was the first time she had seen a real spring. All the flowers and trees blooming in full color, the scents, the smells and the pure wonder of it all suddenly made her wonder why they were never allowed to experience this joy. She shifted between forms, enjoying the new experience and would have played longer but Janus called her and motioned her over to him. He took her for a walk along a winding path and into a new building, where they walked into office filled with a group of people she had never met before. It was an official meeting and that made her very nervous.

"Take these, go into the next room and change please." Janus said quietly handing her a small bundle of clothes.

Olivia nodded knowing that he meant for her to shift, thus she was very confused but did as he said returning promptly. Once she was in the room some of the group members walked over to her and began to examine her, or at least that's what she thought they were doing. Some lifted her arms or tilted her face, but most just walked around her. There was a lot of scratching on note pads and heads bent towards each other and muttered. It ended quickly and she was sent into an empty office to wait, which didn't bother her at all since it had a computer. She quickly logged in and spent time finishing the last test she had for her online course, which lasted all of ten minutes so she promptly began browsing for new toys to get. She realized that she was once again being observed when forty minutes went by and no one came to get her. With a mental sigh and shrug, she continued her browsing. Twenty minutes after that she was returned to her level, and quickly gathered up by Brynne and locked away in her dorm.

'_Erica is looking for you. She thinks you told Janus all about her big plan and she is furious. She and the others have set a trap for you._' Brynne typed out. _'You should stay away from her, all the hate she is thinking is louder than anyone else's thoughts. I really think she wants to hurt you.'_

"Thanks for the warning, I will be sure to be around you at all times." Olivia said, her stomach tightening into cold knots.

For the rest of the night she was Brynne's shadow, she tossed and turned that night worrying about how she would be able to stay away from Erica and her vicious pack. She had nightmares about what would happen when she was confronted. The next day solved the problem for her. Even before the morning alarm she was awakened by Janus calling on her room phone.

"You will begin with your special training." He said softly

"What training?" she asked sleepily

"That group you saw yesterday is a on a Glass Walker security council, you will be trained as a special operative." He said a slight catch to his voice.

"A spy?" she said, awake and alert at that particular bit of news "For what, for whom?"

"A good spy doesn't ever want to know those answers." Janus said gravely "It could cost you, your life."

"Don't bother to pack anything except what you cannot live without immediately, your training starts today and I'm not sure how long it will take. You leave after breakfast."

"Where am I going?" she asked

"Close by- I will still be able to see you, but it's another building so you can come and go for training without upsetting the other children." Janus said

"Okay, I will be ready." She said, oddly relieved that Janus would still be close by. "Do I need a coat? Is it chilly out there?"

"No, you will be fine." He chided "Let's get ready shall we?"

Olivia hopped out of bed with a grin, almost tripped herself as she realized she was still holding onto the phone, and grabbed her bathing supplies. She was excited, scared but still excited none the less. She quickly breezed through her bathing and went to breakfast early to eat and get done. She didn't stop and think she just waltzed out of her dorm with her head on the thoughts of her up coming changes and what it all meant. That was when Erica caught her. She was so far into her own mind that when she was grabbed harshly by her hair and yanked back into a corner it caught her off guard and off balance.

"So I hear you went outside." Erica snarled at her. "Apparently being a little sell out and Janus' pet had paid off nicely for you. Did you really think I wouldn't hear about your betrayal?"

"That's not…"Olivia started and was hushed with a huge fist across the mouth.

"That's not what my friends tell me." She spat. "You really are that naive to think that you are the only one who has friends amongst the staff. I think it's time you learned your place."

With no further words, she began to pummel Olivia, with her pack jumping in. Vicious punches, kicks and swipes of claws rained down upon her in a frenzy. The attack was quick, and particularly savage. Though she tried to fight back, her size was a distinct disadvantage. Though she tried there was no way she could fight against five huge Metis, who were hell bent on hurting her. As she felt flesh rip and bones pop she knew that she was going to die. In a panic Olivia focused against the pain for a moment and sent one loud burst of thought.

'_BRYNNE!'_ she screamed as loud as she could in her mind.

It was the last though she had before the world went dark. Images swirled around in her head in a grey mist. Voices all around her but they didn't make sense, faces coming in and out but no one really talking to her. Then the blessed darkness again came and everything went silent.

"Olivia." Janus voice said "Wake up, now."

She cracked an eye open and found the bright light hurt her. She closed her eye again and tried to speak.

"Hurts." She whimpered

"I know but we have to get you up and moving." He said firmly

"What?" she asked

"Erica and her pack." He said flatly "Apparently they were convinced you told of us their secret plan to escape. Brynne told us everything, in fact without your friends you would not be here. She, Justin and Tim kept them off you long enough for the medics to get you away. They are all okay, took a day or so to recover but the rest of the children very much view them as heroes."

"What?" she asked again, but fearing the answer.

"They attacked you, and because of your blood allergy almost killed you. We had to work on you for quite a few days to help you repair the damage. There were times where I feared you wouldn't make it. That pack was quite brutal with you and it will take a bit of work before you feel back up to snuff, though I want you to know that Erica and the boys have since been removed to containment to await their punishment." He said quietly "You have been here for three weeks recovering.

Three weeks? Olivia's eyes snapped open at that. She wondered just what had been done to her. She closed her eyes again and focused on slowly shifted into lupine form, into Hispo, homid and back to Crinos. Her body ached but it was a dull pain, obviously she had been unconscious for the worst of it. She felt her face, gingerly with her claws. Tufts of fur were missing around her eyes and nose. Her mouth seemed overly chapped and the top of her head was missing more fur. She sighed and shifted into homid again.

"Can I have a mirror please?" she asked, surprised to find her voice so scratchy. "What happened to my throat?"

"Matt was trying to remove your means of speech." Janus said handing her a mirror. "It caused you to swallow blood and made your throat swell."

She looked herself over carefully. In girl form she still showed a bit of bruising around her face and a thin line showed where cruel claws had ripped into her throat. Her eyes were puffy and her lips pressed thin from the stress. She shifted back into her natural form and looked again, the damage was still there and she began to cry. Fat tear drops falling onto the mirror that had fallen into her lap.

"How soon can I start training?" she asked, almost smiling at the shock on Janus' face.

"Dear, you have suffered serous injuries. I think it better that you heal first." Janus said, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"NO." Olivia was surprised at how loud and vehement her voice sounded even to her. "I want to start as soon as I am able. I need to be out of here."

Janus looked at her and then nodded in agreement. He patted her lightly, shut off the lights and exited the room. Olivia lay back and cried a while longer. Despite everything else she could not believe that Erica would actually try to kill her. They were supposed to be family of sorts. She snorted at that, really they were just the grouped freaks. Her thoughts spiraled down that dark path until the door creaked. Brynne, Tim and Justin stood in the door until she waved them in.

"Thanks." She said to Brynne

'_I couldn't let them kill you, besides you would have done the same._' Brynne typed '_I am glad to finally see you awake and better._'

"Are you okay Olivia?" Justin lisped "We were worried for a while."

"Yea, just sore and disillusioned." She said, then smiled softly at them "But I am very glad to see my friends."

"Erica and her pack got taken off for punishment." Tim said, smiling just a bit "I hope they get whipped real good."

"So what's new?" Olivia said, quickly moving off the topic of Erica.

Justin and Brynne quickly filled her in about the new steps taken to ensure that no more attacks like that would happen. Tim rapidly bullet pointed all the new rules that had happened and how the other kids were taking her attack. On the good side, everything was much more relaxed since the Alpha group had been removed, and there was even talk about an outdoor facility for them to utilize. It was fascinating to hear but having company wore her out quickly and she fell asleep even while Justin rambled on. She awoke sometime in the night, sweating and terrified. She forced her hands to release the blankets. In shock she looked down and saw that they were actually hands. In her terror she shifted to girl form.

'That's gonna suck in a fight.' She thought with a yawn and turned over to get more sleep before the biggest change in her life.

Olivia blinked and pulled herself back into the present. There was a new group of Glass Walker scientists to impress and she planned to do the best she could. There wasn't a time while she was recovering that she hadn't pushed harder and worked longer to never be in a weak position again. She refused to be caught off guard and worked very hard to become damn good at what she was learning. It was only three months after her attack and while she worked hard there was still some fear and frustration holding her back.

At her request she had been taught how to use a rope dart. Something that combined her love of jumping rope, some martial arts and a way to make sure her attackers couldn't get close to her. She had seen it on some cable television documentary and decided that it was the perfect weapon for her to learn. After the first week, her arms, legs and torso were so bruised from her own clumsy attempts, Janus almost had her switched to another weapon, but Olivia refused and continued to work with it until she became good. Now at three months later she was more than proficient, learning much more quickly than anyone would have given her credit for – but Olivia reasoned that she had been in training ever since she decided that she wanted to jump rope. The rope dart had become and extension of her and lately she went no where without it. The fluidity of the motion was like a dance to her and she spent her free time trying to create moves that she could use while shifting. She was given plenty of time to practice, which was new to her since she had been living a planned life for as long as she could remember. In the new training building Olivia was encountering things she never thought she would.

For once in her life, she had privacy. She had her own small apartment, instead of a dorm. She was even cooking her own meals, granted it had taken time to learn how to cook for her allergies so she wasn't inadvertently aggravating them. She had been given a personal assistant for the first two months to come in each day and teach her how to function in the real world unattended. Things that Olivia had taken for granted such as laundry, cooking and house cleaning were addressed. Years of living with a regimented schedule made it much easier for her to adapt, but she was finding her time used up by the end of each day. She still continued on with her schooling and of course practice replaced much of her day.

Olivia still fought daily with the notion that she was going to have to live her life in a shifted form. Despite what others thought, Crinos was her natural and very normal form. She hated the homid form and all the weakness it represented. Even worse was learning that every time she frenzied she was stuck in the blasted form with no way to do anything about it until she calmed down. She finally broached the subject with Janus, and to her amazement he was very calm while he explained it to her.

"Olivia, you are used to Crinos and so are all of our Kinfolk and Garou, but in the human world they have never seen us or have at least convinced themselves that it was a joke or dream." Janus said softly "We are very much hidden, hence the rule about not breaking the Veil. Whether you believe it or not, you are considered to be very attractive in the human world."

"Sure, pretty there and just a freak in ours." Olivia scoffed.

Janus said nothing, but smiled at her and patted her little human hand. Olivia unfolded herself from the chair and walked towards her apartment. She was still getting used to the whole idea that she didn't look like a freak to outside people. The Garou and Kinfolk at her home had always given her a bit better treatment but Olivia had always figured that it was because she was polite but now she had to wonder if it were based purely on her looks. Changing her destination mid-stride, she turned and went to the practice room. She unwound her rope from her waist and began to warm up.

She gripped the rope tightly in her hand and began to swing it around her body. She was working very hard at an attack that would still protect her from glancing blows. The rope looped around and she rhythmically jumped over it, almost without thought. She began to swing it up and over her in an elliptical pattern. As she jumped through she worked on keeping control of the rope tension as she shifted to Crinos and back. She worked at slashing out with claws and bullet until she could easily get between rope swings without cutting it. She worked until a fine sheen coated her body, moving in and around the obstacle course she had devised. She was completely unaware, this time that she was being watched. A group of Glass Walkers watched her on a screen as she went through her self-created workout. The skills she showed in this private routine were much more advanced than the training they had created and most were surprised. Janus was not, instead he watched her with tight lipped concern.

"She is ready." a petite woman said softly.

"I don't agree." Janus said "She is still leaning to function in a human world."

"No better training than hands on." The woman responded looking at him "It's time for you to stop protecting. Cut the cord as it were."

Janus could say nothing to that, and turned to watch Olivia again, even he was impressed with the lengths she made herself go through. Being Garou gave her the agility and strength but it was her determination that made her as good and as deadly as she was. He doubted that Olivia even really understood what would happen if she were to fight the way she practiced. The only fight she had ever been in had been the unfair match against Erica and her pack, and it was obvious that she didn't ever consider that fighting against other types of people might require differing techniques.

"Give her another two weeks; I want her to understand that she must use more than one fighting style." Janus said calmly.

"Two weeks is all you can have. On day fifteen I want her in Detroit ready to go." The woman said. "Make sure she is prepared to take on an assignment immediately."

Janus nodded, hoping that he was portraying a calm he did not feel. How was he supposed to get her ready for the real world in less than two weeks? Olivia finally stopped, exhausted. She got a drink of water and then forced herself to go through one of the fighting exercises that Janus had prepared for her. She looked up into the corner of the room, one tile in particular holding her gaze even though it was no different than the others. Janus met her gaze and smiled at her, hoping that she would be ready for what she would have to do.


	7. Chapter 7

Warning – This may be a bit graphic- so for those who are squeamish or young you may not want to read this. If you don't think it's graphic okay- if you do remember this is a story.

As always I don't own the WW system- and reviews are welcome !

Of Metis and Men – Ch 7

Janus paced in his office as he waited for her, he had summoned her almost ten minutes ago and he already paced a few miles. What he was about to do might get him killed but there was no way he was pushing his baby chick out of the nest with no safety net. He thought about all of the options he had and had come up only with this one. It might mean that he had to call in a lot of favors but it that were the case, so be it. He didn't like these other Glass walkers walking into his establishment and plucking out his children without his approval. He wanted to know who had turned Olivia over to the Directors of the lab and as soon as he had a minute he would find out and take care of them.

"You rang oh great one?" Olivia drawled as she entered the room.

Again he was amazed by the change that had come over her since she had been moved into the training facility. In addition to taking her sweet time to answer him, her posture and attitude spoke of someone who was finally becoming comfortable with themselves. Being away from the group seemed to be the best thing that could have happened to her. Janus always knew that she preferred to be alone but he was beginning to see that she enjoyed being around people, just not her peers. She was fully able to keep up with adult conversation, often interjecting ideas and comments that were well placed and thought. At the age of fifteen she was more mature than most he knew, Garou and human both. He ushered her in with a tap on her nose, glad to see that she was at least making an effort to be in Homid form as much as possible. The more she got used to it the easier these "special assignments" would be for her. He was also hoping that the more she stayed in that form, the more people would forget her true nature and see her as a normal girl. She sat in her usual chair, and lifted one eyebrow at him as he locked the door, turned on a scrambler machine and took the seat closest to her.

"What I am going to tell you and show you is serious and very secret. We will be using various places to learn and I am swearing you to absolute silence to everyone but me." He said lowly, jumping right to the point just in case the two week stay was a lie.

"Okay," Olivia said slowly, her curiosity piqued and then some. She had only ever known the rule abiding Janus so this was a new direction for them.

"You know you have been in training, but never been told for what. I am about to tell you what it is. In addition I will be introducing you to a new skill that has been expressly forbidden to teach to the occupants of this facility." Janus said and then stood up quickly "Let's go for a walk, this is only a temporary fix and we need much more time."

He shut off the scrambler, and pushed it back into the stereo consol he had taken it from. They walked out of the room, and as they rounded a corner, he mentioned in passing to a janitor that his room seemed to be giving off a lot of static and could the wiring be checked. Olivia made sure her mouth was secured firmly in place because she was seeing a side of Janus that she had not even expected of existing. He was being sneaky and seemingly underhanded. It was something new, but from the ease at which he performed spoke of much practice to her. They walked quickly and quietly through the halls and outside. It was an odd sensation for her but she tried to keep up without worrying about what they were doing. She reasoned that she couldn't get in trouble since she was with Janus. They moved into the grotto area and she sat as he motioned to a seat. He pulled out a small white noise machine and turned in on; the hum was low but present. Olivia stared at him, this was so unlike him. She knew he liked his privacy but this was getting crazy. An irrational fear gripped her; perhaps she did something that was going to get him punished.

"As you know, you are in a special facility for Metis children. What you do not know is that any Metis child that shows great potential is taken and specially trained to run "errands" as they are called." Janus said looking very uncomfortable "Most of these errands are dangerous, and sometimes, I fear that those in charge may not care if the child running this errand returns alive or not. You, as Metis, as seen as highly expendable. You know that we give a large stigma for anyone who is luckless enough to be born Metis and these Directors have taken it a step further by making you expendable as well. They pick Metis to go out and run errands that are particularly dangerous."

"But, what do they hope to accomplish if we all die?" Olivia asked in a small voice.

"You clear the way for the Garou based team to come in and be successful." Janus said harshly "You are bait essentially, and if you have the nerve to be successful, then you are rewarded by harder and harder assignments."

"Why do they hate us so much?" she whispered and silent tears coursed down her face.

Silence crashed down on them as guilt splayed across Janus' face as he softly wiped her tears with his handkerchief. Olivia had never felt so abused in her life. She always thought that the facility had been created so they had a safe haven, and here she was finding out it was in place because some stupid Garou felt guilty about violating the Litany and wanted that evidence out of sight so it could be out of mind as well. Olivia started to look at her childhood home in a very different and harsh light.

"There are plenty of things that you children are not being taught in this facility. But this particular skill is something that is part of your birthright but denied to you because there are those who feel that it isn't necessary for you to learn. I will be teaching you because I feel that it is going to be a much needed skill for you." He said, obviously trying to find the right words to say to her. "As Garou we are part of this world and part of the world of the spirits. As such, we can cross between the two and as Metis you can do so more easily than most. Perhaps you weren't told because the Directors feared that you would run off, as we have less constraint ability in the Umbra."

"Umbra?" she asked, waiting for it to click into place from one of the many books she had read. "Do you mean the spirit realm? I think you gave me a book about it recently."

"Yes." He said, looking like he was trying to put pieces into place himself, then he shook his head "Anyhow, this is what I will be teaching you, how to step sideways, for the next two weeks. After those two weeks they want to send you on an errand so if you get into a position where you obviously cannot win, you have a way to save yourself."

"Okay." She said softly. "And I understand that for no reason I would tell anyone that I have this skill. If I am caught I will act surprised or claim it be an innate inborn skill."

"Yes." Janus said looking at her in surprise "You are so much older that you look, and I hope that your experience here has not been a terrible one."

"It is all I have known, and until recently I thought it was pretty normal." Olivia said with a sigh, suddenly feeling very much older. "So let's start, if I only have two weeks I have a feeling we are going to need to work quickly."

Putting a smile on her face she stood before her mentor, no _friend_, she amended. Janus was making sure that she would live and that was a pretty strong indicator of friendship in her book. She stood before him and waited for the lesson to start. He took in a deep breathe and had her follow his lead. While their breathing slowed, he explained to her in a soft and singsong voice how to put herself into an almost self-hypnotic trance to be able to reach the other side. Gazing into nothing, she started to drift off and quickly startled herself out of the trance when she recognized she could almost easily see the ghostly shapes of the other side. It took a few more moments to reach her relaxed and mind free state again, but since she rather knew what to expect it was easier the second time. It was eerie to be able to see small shapes on the other side and she willed herself to be there and be with them. It was effortless and sliding on silk. Olivia looked around at her new surroundings with awe. Things looked rather like crudely drawn sketches, until she relaxed back into her natural form. She took in a deep breath and reveled being in her Crinos form, it had been too long since she had really been able to be natural and it was a great relief. Everything burst into active patterns of energy, mingling, mixing and repelling other energies in a soothing flow. She turned around- almost expecting to see a small portal where she could exit but found Janus instead. He smiled widely at her, watching her reactions to the new stimuli.

So this would be the umbra, take a minute and experience it because after this we are going to work hard. He said his voice an odd mix of human speech and growl talk.

It feels different. She said trying to find the words Almost like a relief, it is a comfortable place to be in.

Being Metis, you are used to be in your Crinos form, which has stronger spiritual ties in the real world, than homid form does. You are probably feeling more relaxed because it is less taxing for you to be here. This is the sanctuary Gaia made for her chosen and being here should be comfortable. Janus said as he shifted into Hispo and with a lupine smile darted off. Follow me! It's time to stretch your legs."

Olivia followed suite and shifted into Hispo and began to chase him. It was exhilarating for her, as this terrain was not the ground she was used to running. Small animals, rather animal spirits, moved quickly out of their way as they ran top speed and other spirits hung in the air seeming to be amused as they watched the chase. It was vibrant, fresh and cleaner than anything Olivia had ever encountered, but somewhere in the back of her mind she very much longed for her computer station and her nice tidy apartment. Janus took her running until they were both panting for breath. Grips of panic started to shake her, but a strong hand on her shoulder calmed her. Olivia couldn't figure out why she would panic, she had been in the woods before but this seemed different. She knew she could get lost and the wide openness of it made her long to run back to her room and lock the door. It was almost as it was too much nature, which she tried to shrug off but there definitely was something about being without her gadgets that made her nervous. Janus smiled at her reassuringly and led her through a series of breathing exercises, once she was calm they began to walk quietly back to their starting area without conversation. Olivia took in the scenery around her, amazed that they covered a vast area during their run and it had seemed to go by so quickly. When they got closer back she noticed a small shimmer off to her left and realized that it looked like where she lived.

What is that? She asked pointing at a large lump where a building should have been.

That is our home. He said knowing there would be much more discussion.

Why is it covered? She asked filing away the small indication that Janus lived in the same area that she did.

We are Glass Walkers, we live closer to the Weaver and she in turn claims us as hers by using spiders to be messengers, so anywhere we choose to congregate or live there tend to be a lot of spider webs. He said, with pride Think about your internet, it's called the World Wide Web, which is not coincidence. This is also the same reason some other Garou have problems with us, they think that we are tainted. Not evil mind you, but tainted because we have such a closer relationship with the Weaver. However those of us who really understand how things works do understand that most Garou like to stand on pomp and circumstance and would rather tout the old ways than adapt and come up with new ways that work just as well if not better. We use technology because our enemies have adapted and use technology, we protect cities because that is where the need is and most of all we continue to adapt to make sure that can do Gaia's work in all realms not just those most comfortable to us.

Olivia nodded, sure that more questions would pop up but for the time being they were shunted aside by all of the new stimuli and information coming in from learning about the Umbra. She slowly shifted back into Homid form and stretched her little girl legs out some. To her surprise she didn't feel nearly so weak in the Umbra in the useless form, and using her fingers to explore was an explosion of texture and sensation that she had not known in that form before. It almost gave her hope for the weak little form, not much but it was better. It suddenly occurred to her that she had no idea how to leave, which was an odd sensation because while she did not feel trapped she did feel like it was a constraint. Still she didn't panic; she merely turned to Janus and smiled.

You will show me how to leave, of course. She stated, as if it were all normal and she was okay.

Just as you came in, pet, just relax and think of home. He said.

She grinned at his term of endearment, it slipped out now and again but more often than not he didn't because of the implications around other children. She often wondered what made her so special in his eyes, but at the same time was very afraid to ask and find out. Olivia turned her attention back to Janus, who didn't seem in any particular hurry to leave the Umbra, so she shifted back to Crinos, reveling in being able to and sat down on the spongy ground. He sat across from her and looked at her for a while.

The Umbra does have its downsides too, for instance you can get lost out here. It has been almost impossible to get a static map and there are many different realms that are here that you can inadvertently cross into, so be careful while you are here. He said playing with a blade of grass that was glowing with a vibrant green energy. More importantly, not everything that is here is friendly. Just like in the real world, bad things do exist and with these new missions that you will be going on you will be forced to encounter them up close. Where ever bad things are, bad spirits follow drinking up the negative energy and they can hurt you. In fact most will take malicious delight in doing so and your hurts carry over from either world.

Olivia looked at him carefully, digesting this new world and everything attached to it. The Umbra was a place of unique beauty to her, possibly because it was the one area that she felt completely in synch, despite the fact that it made her feel unwound. Being in the open, in unending nature was definitely something she was not used to and it made her rather edgy. Even still she felt like she was finally comfortable in her Crinos skin, something that she wasn't aware of being uncomfortable in just until then. She pondered more about her life, the Umbra and the obvious lies told to her for a while until Janus stood and motioned for her to stand as well.

It's time to go back, I only bought us an hour and time is rapidly coming to an end. He said Don't worry if you didn't understand everything today, we will be practicing for the new two weeks, so get used to enjoying yourself.

Olivia sighed and followed him back into the real world, where she noticed an immediate heaviness about her, as if the gravity was just a bit lower than in the Umbra. She quickly shifted to homid form, as in her new environment being in Crinos form - even though she was not deformed was frowned upon. She pushed imaginary wrinkles out of her clothes, wondering if Janus would think her greedy to ask for more than one set of clothing to be dedicated for her use. He had already made sure that she had two sets of clothing, from the inside out, that she could easily use when she shifted, but he still seemed leery of teaching her how to do it herself. She grew frustrated, often, knowing that there was a larger wealth of knowledge that she should have access to, but because of her being Metis again it was denied to her. It seemed like nothing had been easy since this whole changing business and she wasn't sure if she liked it. It was bad enough always feeling like a second hand citizen but then to realize that the people who cared for you saw the same way was a bit disheartening to her. Olivia also realized just how much Janus did care for her. He seemed to be going very much out of his way to make sure that she was safe and had a way to care for herself. She realized that even living on her own had given her a new set of skills that she would not have gotten in the center with the other children.

Olivia walked quietly next to Janus, to others it might have looked like he had just gotten just chastising her, but anyone who knew her, also knew this was her thinking face. Before she left to start these missions she did want to see her old friends again. Justin, Brynne and Tim were the rest of her family beside Janus and aside from a three visits their contact had been severely curtailed, even email had been cut down. She might have been lonely but she kept herself so busy that she didn't think about it, much. Olivia had even taken to walking around the grounds. It was new and scary but because she could, she was outside as much as they allowed her to be. She guessed she was making up for 15 years of being inside, so she wandered around, putting scents and texture to plants that she had only ready about. She often took her bird book and tried to identify all the birds she saw, and was getting really good at sitting still enough that they came by, not close but enough for her to see them.

The next week and a half flew by for Olivia as Janus tried to cram everything he knew about the Umbra and umbra travel into her head. Thankfully she did have a photographic memory, so he let her review the texts that had been written about the subject, even though most of them contradicted each other it gave her one more source to consider. Olivia wished she dared to try it on her own, but considering the amount of surveillance that was around that facility, it would have been easier for her to break into the kitchen for a midnight snack. Not much got by the guards, and she had lived with it her entire life it honestly didn't faze her as a breech of privacy. It was just expected that she would be monitored through some camera. Janus didn't talk much more to her about anything but he certainly spent as much time as possible with her. He often met her on her walks outside and they debated about new technology. He showed up to her practices, and she could tell that he was more impressed than surprised by her ability with the rope dart. She had wanted to walk around with the rope at her side, but she was openly scoffed at by her teacher, saying that on their facility grounds there was no reason for her to brandish a weapon. Olivia tried to explain it was to show off her weapon, just more that she wanted to practice with it in a real space, to see if she could knock an apple off the tree without bruising it too badly but she was still denied. She read everything she could about the rope dart and it helped to augment what she was learning, and then of course there was her hours and hours of practicing.

With one day left before Olivia's departure for her first assignment, Janus seemed to have a need to be around her. He met her for breakfast, and even held a study session with her. He watched her practice for hours, and yet he said nothing about her leaving and the potential danger that she was going to be in on this mission. He did surprise her by giving her two more sets of dedicated clothes, a dedicated rope dart and most importantly her PDA and accoutrements were dedicated. Of course he said nothing about it, but they came to her wrapped even though she already owned them. Olivia was certain the people watching her must have had a chuckle thinking that he duped her by giving her "gifts" of her own belongings. She was trying to find a way to get a bit of breathing room, when he left her with a heavy sigh saying that there was a meeting that he had to go to. Blessing who ever made the meeting mandatory, she gave him a small smile and promised to meet him for dinner.

As soon as he left, she quickly gathered up her MP3 player, bird book and headed outside for some fresh air and blessed alone time. She sat down and looked up into the crystal blue sky, not looking at anything but reflecting inward to thinking. She wondered if life would ever get fair, and if her nation would understand that Metis were not some second hand citizens to be abused. She hoped that someday the fight would be won and when her people looked around they would see a nation of strength and unity. She sighed and pressed play on her MP3 player and let the soft Celtic music carry her into her musings about a life where little tidbits about her life did not crash down on her in a frenzy of hurt and confusion. She was enthralled with the soft song that played, putting it on repeat until it penetrated her so completely she could think around the haunting music. Even more exciting is that it was a Garou singing, there was a private company in New York that had a recording studio and was Garou run, Glass Walker no less! It gave her a few moments of hope that she might actually have a regular life at some point.

She was so engrossed in what she was doing that she did not notice the two boys until they were literally walking up on her. She looked up as a shadow crossed her. They looked at her and smiled. Only years of practice allowed her to hide the startled look on her face, they looked so very alike that it was hard for her, in useless bald little homid form at least, to tell them apart. She squinted up at them, and tried not to look mean or sour.

"Nice day." One said, looking at her in a way she couldn't quiet interpret.

"Yes," she said softly, knowing that they must be visiting Garou, it happened often around the Center, but these were younger than most. "Can I help you? Are you lost?"

"No, our father is in a meeting and we were left to amuse ourselves the way we saw fit." Number two said with a grin towards One that she had no idea of what it could possibly mean.

Olivia had immediately assigned them numbers, because they looked so much alike that the only difference she could tell, in the blasted homid form, was the color of shirts they wore. Number one was in a brilliant red and the number two in a deep green. She was fascinated by them, and felt a slight flutter in her stomach as she watched them smile at her. Boys were not new to her, but feeling funny around them was and especially with two who had looked so much alike. They stood watching her observe them with smiles that she answered tentatively. One sat next to her and looked at the book in her hand and took it from her.

"Are you really just watching the birds?" he asked softly

"Yes," she said finding something interesting on the ground to look at.

"So this is how you spend your breaks?" Two asked standing behind her.

"Well sometimes," she said "It's been really nice weather lately so I am just enjoying it."

"So what do you do here?" One asked, moving a bit closer.

"A lot on the computers really, just training and stuff, nothing really important." Olivia said.

"So what do you do for fun?"

Olivia shrugged; feeling a bit crowded and flushed at the same time. She wasn't sure why they were so interested in what she did. They smiled at her and tried to converse with her more, and her feelings almost drowned her, so she hopped up and got her water bottle. She stood away from them some distance watching them, their heads close as they murmured and she wished hard she could just shift her ears so she could hear them. Instead she just looked them over again, amazed that Two seemed to be wearing a silver cable around his neck, of course it was hardly thicker than the wire she used when making new headphones, but why wear silver? She had noticed that they had metal around their fingers, gemstones in their ears and one even had a red stone in the side of his nose. They smiled at her as the caught her staring at them, and walked towards her.

"So why don't we take a walk and see if there is something we can find to do for fun." One said casually putting his arm around her shoulders.

"You do like to have fun, don't you?" Two said, walking up and flanking her.

"I guess so." She said, looking again at the bizarre metal all over them, maybe it was some city fashion. "What do you want to do for fun?"

"Well we thought maybe some exploration was in order." Two said, guiding the group more deeply into the foliage. "You look like you enjoy exploring."

"I don't know if I can go back there, I might get in trouble." She protested, as they all put pulled her into shadows that suddenly seemed darker. Something felt wrong, like she was being closed in and she tried not to panic and just interact.

"Oh, come on! They don't own you!" One said with a chuckle "You do get free time don't you?"

"Well yes, but even still I have to check in."

"So you work in a classified area?" Two said looking more interested.

"I live here, we have to check in every few hours." She said confused as to why they would think she worked at the facility.

"You live here?" One asked slightly confused "Must be a super classified job. Don't you miss being on the outside?"

"I've never been on the outside, I was raise here." She said "This is my home."

"You were raised here?" One asked again, not getting it.

"You're Metis!" Two snapped out a few seconds later in an ugly voice as realization sunk in. "You led us on you little bitch."

Olivia shrank back in fear; the harsh voice was more sinister than anything she had heard before. She was confused, everyone around knew that Metis lived in the facility so why were these boys so confused. They had come over to her and talked, not the other way around. In fact she had been trying to leave but they wouldn't let her.

"I didn't lie, everyone here knows that this a Metis facility." She said, trying to pull away from the grip one of them had on her arm. Panic was starting to blind her.

"Show us your deformity!" One snapped "It's against the rules to hide your deformity! Show us what you really are!"

"She was leading us on!" Two over lapped the first "She needs to be taught a lessons about lying to Garou."

"This is what I am…" Olivia faltered, terror coursing through her.

Two snatched up before she could say anything, while One easily ripped through the flimsy barrier that her clothing made. She tried to shriek as her clothes were shredded off her and got backhanded for her efforts. She was roughly fondled, pinched and poked. When she protested she was hit again, she felt blood course down her brow and felt her face start to swell.

"Shut up! You cannot possibly think that we would let a little Metis freak get away with trying to seduce us!" Two snapped shaking her.

"Especially one of the expendable ones!" One said as he watched Two hit her again.

Apparently it seemed to be a good idea because Two stopped hitting her, gripped her tighter and let One pummel her.

"You shouldn't be pretty anyway, you Metis whore." He snapped "It's bad enough that you are alive, but trying to hide your flaws and copy us! You will be punished for that!"

She was pushed into One's arms suddenly, and then the most excruciating pain screamed a course through her body as she felt a push and then ripping as Two violated her from behind. Her stomach lurched and her eyes widened in panic, she knew what rape was, because she had read about it but the reality was much worse than she could have fathomed. She tried to scream and was punched in the mouth; her head was yanked back by the hair with each vicious thrust. She stared into One's eyes as he laughed and high-fived Two, after which he began to fondle her, saying things that were not registering in her mind. Two was unnecessarily rough as ground into her and encouraged his friend to try a double. She didn't know what that was until One began to violate her from the front as well in deep ripping strokes, she thought she might pass out but instead the shock and panic drove her into a frenzy and she began to writhe and fight back, locked into the most hated form she had. In homid form she could not howl for help and had no sort of weapon on her person so she was utterly defenseless. She twisted, kicked out and tried to yell but it seemed to be no use. She flailed about as her mind spiraled in and out of pain and terror hoping that somehow Janus would come and save her that was about the last coherent thing she remembered.

As she fought with every ounce of strength she had, her wilding groping hands caught onto something that burned her, she bucked, twisting her hand around and around, trying to make the burning leave. She shook fast and furious to rid her hand of what was on it. Gasping blew fetid breath through her nostrils and she redoubled her efforts to escape from the torture that ripped and tore through her body in wracking waves. Her hand shook and trembled but she still she pulled tightly, yanking and tugging until it finally was slack, and then burning slipped away from her hand. She looked down at her hand and was shocked to see blood running in rivulets down her arm, it was thick, oddly sluggish and she realized that her eyes had begun to swell from blood over her body. Every inch of skin she could see was welted, burned and deeply cut. Her brain had not registered much more, before she was thrown to the ground jarringly.

"You Bitch!" Two roared, "What have you done?"

She had enough time to look at One's prone body on the ground before Two descended upon her in a furious rage, shifting mid step, and snatched her up. He brutalized her with punches, claws and teeth until a sharp blow to the head allowed her to slip into the blessed dark of unconsciousness.


	8. Chapter 8

Here we are- the last installment of the story! I would love to hear what you think about the whole kit-n-caboodle! See? The WOD is still alive and kicking!

Ch 8

Olivia stared ahead, her eyes glassy and dark. Even though she was awake she saw nothing around her and did not speak at all. Her surroundings had taken on a surreal quality and every sound made her flinch, just a little. The past few hours had been a nightmarish parody of the life she once used to have. A brief light passed in front of her eyes and she blinked slowly, recalling what had led her to this point of pain in her life…

The door to the Director's office flew open with a loud bang and rocked on its hinges. A very pissed off looking man strode through the office with his son meekly in tow. He was large and seemed to be having a problem staying in his Homid form, he seemed to ripple and flux with every step; the fight for control was evident as he seethed. His face was chiseled and attractive when it did not wear the unhealthy red flush that currently covered it from the neck up. His massive body rippled and flexed as he fought down the rage that threatened to explode and consume him. He all but dragged the young man in behind him and motioned, rather half tossed him into a seat. He leaned over the desk and with a stare that would melt the flesh off any other, looked into the Director's eyes.

"Where is that bitch? She was to be executed this morning for what she did to my son." He seethed. "Where is she?"

"Richard, sit down." The Director said calmly. "We have things we must discuss."

"She killed my son!" the man roared. "I will not sit down until you can explain to me how your "State of the Art" facility could have let something like this happen! I demand answers, or I will make you wish that you had never heard of this damned place."

"Your son died defending our brawn in a Black Spiral attack on our center." The Director said calmly as if Richard had not interrupted him at least half dozen times in his short sentence. "The death total also included Olivia and another First Line pack, and while we are proud of the efforts of your son's heroism, we are all still in shock and grief at the horrendous turn of fate. Of course he will get great renown at our next moot."

"What games are you trying to play? You promised me that once she was healed up enough to understand what was happening to her, she would be punished for what she did." Richard hissed. "There was no attack, my son was brutally murdered, and his brother had to witness the atrocity! You promised us retribution. "

His son, the one Olivia had dubbed Two, sat meekly by his father's side. He watched the banter listlessly. Ever since his twin died he had been in a grief so profound that he was on suicide watch all the time. The only thing that had made him come out of his fugue was the promise that his twin's murderess would be killed for her insolence. As he listened to the exchange and watched the Director, his eyes glowed bright from rage with a strangled cry and he half shifted into Crinos. He tried to stand but a heavy hand on his knee, by his father, kept him in his seat and he slowly shifted back to homid and glared at the Director.

"That freakish little Metis whore killed a Garou, one of Gaia's chosen and a good warrior. There is no way you will cover this up and pretend it did not happen! I will personally make it my mission to make sure this freak center is shut down and all responsible stripped of their Glory for this!" Richard snapped again, trying to keep his son seated and calm. "I will make sure that no funding ever comes this way again, and let's not forget all those who might have opposed this little test lab of yours. You are starting a fight you will not be able to finish."

The Director tossed a bright green envelope on the desk, and it landed with an ominous thud. Richard snatched up the folder and sat down and looked at it like it was a trap. The envelope was carefully sealed with his name boldly scrawled on the front; he took it and savagely ripped it open. Inside there was a manila envelope, stuffed very full, he opened it slightly more carefully than the envelope. There were documents with large portions highlighted, some very legal looking papers and a pile of glossy photos. As his eye caught the top most photos, he suddenly took more of an interest in the contents. The chair creaked with sudden weight as he thumbed through the remainder of the photos and the paperwork. There were no small amount of documentation of his financial status, his earnings, his private accounts as well as business expenses and tax filings. The photos showed him making shady deals, assaulting a few Bone Gnawers and then of course his mistresses. Richard raised his eyes to the Director who said nothing but continued to watch him leaf through the pile. The last pile of papers made the man go absolutely pale, and he said nothing for a long while.

"Where did you get this information?" Richard finally asked when he had control of his tongue again.

"I didn't." the Director said leaning forward "But a member of our staff is very good at obtaining information and presenting it at opportune times."

"This is bullshit. I refused to be blackmailed." Richard started to say, until the Director handed him one last sealed letter. Richard scowled thickly but opened the letter and what he read had the incredible effect of making him pale further. His son tried reaching for the folder and was shoved back into his seat with a snarl.

"I trust this will explain everything and just how badly things can go for all of us?" the Director said mildly. "Now as for your threats of shutting us down and blackmail; we expect your full endorsement of this program and your annual contribution of half a million dollars starting this month and every year after."

"You expect me to give in to this threat?" Richard snarled "My son died!"

"Because of his own folly which is regrettable but do you really want your own foolishness to come out? This is no joke, no idle threat and certainly no game. What you have in front of you is a mere scratch on the surface of what information has been gathered on you. It is real, it is very much a ploy for leverage and if you know what is good for you and yours, you might just take the deal." The Director said "But of course the choice is yours."

Janus sat calmly at his desk looking over Olivia's file once more. Calmly he pressed the rubber stamp across the top; it was his routine cleaning out of the non-essential files. The stamp slid with a squeak across the photo. Deceased. It was done, finished for all times. With a barely discernable sigh he looked at her picture one more time, the trusting brown eyes looking up at him with her smile. He had done his best by her, hopefully it had been enough. He put the file aside with out a second thought and picked up the next once. Erica's face stared up at him balefully from the picture, and pressing the stamp into the ink once more he pressed the rubber against the glossy photo. Deceased. Five more times, he repeated the process until his pile was gone. He calmly stood and took the folders to a file cabinet on the far side of his office.

He got a cup of coffee and stretched. He grabbed another pile of folders and began reviewing the files of the children he would be meeting with the next day.

Olivia slowly woke to a slight shaking. She sat up startled and immediately regretted the action. Her body was sore and her head throbbed. She fought nausea and tried to lie back down.

"Olivia, you must wake up now." Janus said "We don't have much time."

"What?" she asked, trying to clear her throat.

"Wake up." He said more forcibly and moved about her room.

Soon she heard the familiar sound of the scrambler and looked at Janus. His lips were pressed tightly together and he looked more grim than she had ever seen him.

"We do not have much time and there is a lot that I must tell you." He said, handing her some clothes.

"I thought I was going before the council for punishment today." She said in a tiny voice, she had never seen Janus this intense and the waves of emotion rolling off him sent her stomach lurching in panic.

"That will not be happening." He said flatly "Now get dressed and listen carefully. I will only have time to cover this once."

Olivia stood gingerly, feeling her ribs shift and pop. She shifted into Homid form and put on the clothes Janus held out to her. She was still sore, despite medicines and moaned under her breath as she put the shirt on over her head. He watched her for a moment and then motioned for her to sit down.

"What I am going to tell you is to save your life. I am giving you information as a means of survival and should only be used as your last recourse." Janus said pulling out sheets of paper "In addition I want you to read these and commit them to memory. This is what you will need to tell the one I am sending you to for his verification."

"Sending me to?" Olivia said slowly taking the sheets of paper but not looking at them "You mean I have to leave?"

"Child, they are preparing to execute you as we speak." He said softly

"Why?" she asked

"You killed a Garou, and since your Metis life means less than his, your blood was the repayment, of course only after you were healed so you could feel the pain." Janus sat back and sighed, it was going to be a long story. He began to fill in the pieces of what she didn't know before telling her what she needed to know.

 He had been in his office when a klaxon had started buzzing. It was not a klaxon heard often, as it was the one that signaled an attack had been made. He leapt to his feet and left his office at a dead run, only to get upstairs to find Olivia in a bloody heap on the floor of her favorite glen with medical attendants around her. To her left lay a decapitated young man he didn't recognize and being held back by a security guard was the twin to the dead boy. Fury covered the twin's face as he continued to strike out at Olivia's prone form, and was making damaging contact until the guards saw Janus and quickly pulled the boy out of reach. Snarling out orders, Janus rushed with her down to the med lab where her doctors worked long into the night to ensure she would survive, which was precarious as they almost lost her many times that night. He stayed awake all night making sure that she would be okay, because there were a lot of questions he wanted answered. He had been told that she had frenzied and attacked the boys because they invaded her private spot, which to Janus sounded like a bunch of shit. If anything, Olivia never considered anything hers, so he prepared himself to find out the truth. He spent the night on his lap top gathering documents that he just might need to use. The Director caught him as he walked out of her room, the next morning and walked with him down the hall. Quiet was punctuated by sharp footsteps, but Janus refused to say anything until the Director made his comments first.

"She is set to be punished when she is well enough to understand her crime." The Director said, oblivious or at least not caring to notice Janus' lack of sleep.

"I would like to look into this matter." Janus said

"It is done Janus; she attacked two Cliath warriors." the Director said flatly "You know well what the punishment the Metis have for attacking Garou."

As Janus watched the man walked away, he was filled with the urge to rip the man's chest open and see if there was actually a heart in the cavity or not. He calmed himself, so that he could think; it was the only way he could save Olivia. He knew from the extent of her injuries or at least what he could tell, that it would be at least a week before she was lucid enough to be tortured for defending herself, her only crime. He walked over to the station and grabbed her charts from a startled nurse. He carefully reviewed her charts, not quite sure what was ringing wrong until he noticed that they had done a swab and extra labs that were not usually done. Tilting his head to the side he flipped through the pages until her found the lab orders and gritting his teeth, he forced him self to put the chart back calmly. He needed to appear calm, now more than ever since the shit was going to hit the fan. He didn't want to give away his advantage of surprise.

Despite his outward appearance he was not calm as he strode through the corridor. He was seething and wished that he could break his carefully masked façade and let loose the raging beast that was so close to the surface. He was breathing hard and had to force himself to slow his pace and calm down. Though he longed to be irrational and let his wolf take over, it was not going to be the way to get what he needed most. With a passive look on his face, he carefully opened the door to the security room and quietly walked in. The guard sat with his feet up on the desk, in obvious habit, and didn't turn as Janus entered. Although a harsh clearing of the throat had him on his feet in seconds.

"Ah! I didn't hear you come in." the man whinged.

Janus looked him over carefully, his sharp memory pulling up information based on the name on the man's badge. Things were going to be interesting, this man's history made the whole situation more wrong.

"Didn't mean to startle you, Larry" Janus said, lurking in the doorway shadow. "Just wanted to ask you some questions about what happened with those two Garou visitors."

"Well, the ah, Director already had me give my statements." Larry said, obviously nervous as his eyes darted from side to side "I'm sure they are in the report."

"Yes, but I wanted to see if I could jog your memory for a few more details."

"Okay." Larry conceded, because he realized he had no other choice. "What do you want to know?"

"Well let's start from the beginning." Janus said softly leaning toward him "You were sitting here when you saw the struggle?"

"Well, yes, I was here after my, ah, lunch." Larry took an instinctive step back, his nerves on end, although Janus' word's were casual enough, his body told a different story "I came back to my post and as I was looking up I noticed the girl freaking out and the boys trying to protect themselves."

"So she was attacking both of them?"

"Yea." Larry said "She was standing in front of them, waving and shouting."

"And you rushed right up there?" Janus asked

"Yea, but by the time I got there she had him on the ground choking him, while his brother tried to get her off of him. She was in Frenzy, and you know Crinos ain't no easy form to control."

"I see," Janus said, pacing just a bit "So then what happened?"

"Well I got up there and subdued her, then had to keep the boy off her. He was all sorts of mad that she killed his brother." Larry said, relaxing now that the story was out.

"What weapon did she use?" soothing tones were getting harder and harder for Janus to use.

"That boy was one of them Garou that gave in to the trend of wearing Silver around their neck as a fashion statement. Being all bold and wild, well she grabbed on to it and pulled until it cut into him." Larry said, not hiding the smug look on his face. "Makes no sense that he would wear silver anyhow, but I guess it was some sort of dare on his Sept."

Janus' body shook as he stared at the ground, while anger coursed through him. He couldn't give into his Rage and rip the lying bastard apart. Instead slowly his eyes rolled up to meet the man before him _'Oh Larry, Larry, Larry; you have chosen the wrong excuse' _something in his eyes made the smug look fall off Larry's face quickly and he was once again was a nervous mess. He stunk of fear and Janus was getting pissed waiting for the true story to emerge, he was too mad to try his usual tactics. There had to be some way to get the truth, he looked around the room and noticed the man inching slowly toward an overhead cabinet. Finally his brain popped out of the fugue and gave him the answer that his brain tried so hard to put in place for him and Janus almost smiled, everything was under video surveillance, and this time he would get the truth. He placed his hand on Larry's shoulder and allowed himself a feral smile.

"Why don't we review the surveillance data?"

The large thirty-two inch screen showed the surveillance data with crystal clarity the small grotto that Olivia usually favored for reading outside and watching birds. As Janus watched he felt his stomach knot in anticipation of the horror that was going to happen to Olivia. She had on her usual headphone and sat quietly with her book on birds. The boys approached her. There was small conversation, but Janus could see how they flanked her, boxing her in and moving her towards the back of the grotto. There was no way anyone watching could say that Olivia had set up the crime; she very much was the victim from the onslaught. They kept leading her back into deeper cover but she stalled, obviously confused by what they had in mind. As he watched, Janus made a mental note to contact their pack and see if these "boys" had a history with their kinfolk. He steeled himself for what he knew was coming, a rape swift and brutal. He watched Olivia fight and cry out, calmly noting the time the attack started, and then watched her grab onto the silver garrote style necklace the foolish boy wore around his neck. It twisted and pulled in her frenzied grip and she kept tugging and shaking trying to remove the thing that was burning her. Janus could see that there was no thought in her mind except to escape the pain and violation; he also noted that the Twin was unaware of his brother's plight because of his enjoyment in raping Olivia. When the boy fell dead from decapitation by his own necklace, the twin finally noticed and began to beat Olivia, until she passed out. After watching another thirty seconds of the boy try to kill her, Larry and two other guards finally showed up and allowed the boy to beat on her until Janus himself showed up. Quietly Janus stood up and ejected the disk from the player and casually put it in his pocket.

"Twenty-two minutes, Larry." He said allowing just a bit of rage to come out. "You watched for twenty-two minutes until it got bad enough for you to go out there."

"I was tending to other things, but when I saw…" Larry faltered.

"You watched." Janus interrupted him "I guess being the first Kinfolk born to a family rich with Garou must have been embarrassing for your parents. I'm sure they let you know how substandard you were, but even that is no reason for you to allow an innocent young girl to be attacked and almost killed."

"She ain't nothing, just a damned Metis. She ain't Garou and even worse she's one of those Gaia scorned, and then had the nerve to look normal? Hiding her deformities to try to pass off as one of em? She deserved what she got." Larry snapped, then immediately paled as Janus looked at him.

"Gaia's scorned, hmmm? Guess you would know, since you are only kin, and being such there are rules you are to follow. And since you decided you knew better than a Garou, I will make sure you get what _you_ deserve." Janus said softly as he walked towards the door, turning at the last second to pin Larry to his seat with a deadly look "Don't plan on going anywhere, because I will hunt you down if you run. It's been a while since I have had a good hunt."

The stench of urine followed him out of the office and Janus fought the urge to go back and kill the man, instead he would make sure the man regretted his inaction. Janus figured six months on breakfast duty would cure his disdain. Breakfast duty wasn't often given to kinfolk, only other Metis, since the children were ravenous at breakfast and unlike the other meals where they were forced to be civilized, breakfast was a feeding frenzy of raw meat and snarls. He wondered how long Larry would keep all four limbs in tact and almost smiled. He went back to his office to set up the dominos of information that would ensure not only Olivia's security but his own as well. His years of hellish work in the facility were finally coming in handy and it was time to use what he had learned and carefully stored away. Janus stayed with the facility for this very reason - that some day he might start to repay Gaia for all of the atrocities he had taken part in, either directly or remotely. The reason he never accepted the Director position was for the security of his soul, he couldn't run a place that had become so corrupted. Instead he quietly observed and made sure that when it was needed he would have the power to do what he needed to. Today was that day. He sat down at his desk, placed a metal clip on his phone line and then made a call. 

"Memorize these, and I shouldn't have to tell you how important this is." He said and handed the papers to Olivia and waited while she scanned them. "I have made arrangements for you to live elsewhere."

"They will hunt me down." She said letting the words on the paper sink into her memory. It was her medical files, some random events and a string of letters that were obvious to her as a very complex computer code.

"No they won't." Janus said, glanced at his watch and sat, "There is more that you need to know. This is your absolute fail safe, if nothing else works this will make sure they think twice about hunting you down."

The facility had started out because a group of Glass Walkers thought that too many Metis were going over to the Black Spiral group because they had no sense of belonging. It was a sort of safe house for Garou to drop their unwanted Metis children to be raised without the shame of having had one; it seemed to assuage the guilt of parents who had broken the law of their Goddess in the name of love. The parents were able to convince themselves that they were indeed doing what was best for a child who would have been shunned at their home pack. The scientists were elated because it meant they could study the Metis in a very controlled environment and hope to learn more about them. It was also hoped that some how the research would yield some sort of secret to ensure Garou births from normal mating, but forty years later they had still barely scratched the surface on what binding could be used in the genetics make each birth a successful Garou baby. Janus had taken a job initially because he had been hurt in a huge vampire attack and after taking a near lethal dose of Silver dusted whip lashes he needed extra time to heal. The facility offered him a quiet place to indulge his love of science while he slowly healed.

At first the facility was a great place to be there was a high energy about learning about their misunderstood brethren. It was primarily designed to keep shame from the parents and their packs, all family and pack ties were cut and complete anonymity was maintained on both ends. Soon Metis children were being dropped off in all age ranges; some quiet and with drawn and the others wild and unruly and because of this the center was to capacity within a few months of it opening. So the decision was made to increase the size and the facility grew to accommodate the mass numbers. The Board of Glass Walker's that oversaw the facility and its progress were amazed that all of the Metis children that were being left for raising. The Litany was being broken much more often than any would liked to admit, but the Board felt like they were doing Gaia's work by accepting the least of them and raising them in a good environment.

Janus found it to be an interesting project, working with and testing Metis children. Despite some deformities, they seemed to be like any other Garou children, they were smart, quick to adapt and most were not so animalistic that they couldn't be trained. In fact it was he who decided to interject a fine arts curriculum into their daily regime. He pitched it as if it were a test to see if they were intelligent enough, but he wanted to give them a new stimulus. He reported in many meetings the great advanced his children were making and recommended other tests be given, which lead to the facility training the children in all areas. It rather bothered him that he seemed to be one of the few that remembered despite their huge size and constant Crinos form, that these were still children. Punishments were always swift and merciless and affection was fleeting and he didn't know how he could deal with it.

Rather by accident Janus stumbled upon information that would shape his destiny into what it ultimately had become. He had been trying to find the Director at the time, to discuss with her the possibility of teaching the children to read, but took a wrong turn and ended up in a lab that he never really paid attention to before. Low guttural moans filled the air and Janus stuck his head in the curtain only to find one of the "problem children" strapped down to a table with his brain exposed. Doctors were inserting long thin needles into a portion of his brain and carefully noting what the reactions were. On another table was another problem student who had her stomach opened up and her digestive track was being monitored. As Janus looked around he realized the room was full of Metis children no older than age twelve who had "discipline issues". Some had already changed, some had not but all were being experimented on and from what he could tell it was painful. A doctor finally noticed him standing there and ushered him into her office and explained to him that some Metis changed and were too deformed to be much good as anything but a living research subject, and the rest were Metis who had anger control issues.

She explained that since their facility was such a great success that it was quickly outgrowing even the new buildings and until more buildings were built that there had to be some way to control the population. So children accepted over age five were in two categories: those who behaved and were trainable and those who were unmanageable and were either experimented on or killed. Those who had undergone their first change but were too deformed were used for research as well, since they wouldn't be able to be trained. There were no qualms about killing a Metis child, since they were a product of Litany violation and should not have been born anyhow. There was that small prophecy of the perfect Metis who looked normal and had no deformities, and there was a small watch for that because it would signal the end of the world. All in all, the entire lab was doing what it wanted in the name of research and Janus was sickened by the atrocities that he had witnessed. But he put a smile on his face, looked neutral and asked what kind of progress was being made like any good team player would.

It was the start of a cycle that would have profound impact, because it was then that Janus began to collect information on everyone working around him, not matter how big or small. He kept quiet but was the "go to guy" for a lot of people there by gaining a reputation of discretion and loyalty. Very much like his Roman God namesake, he became a duality around the facility. He worked with people he quietly thought barbarians, and gathered information that could bring them down. He also became an Angel of Death of sorts. He could not abide the torture being brought down on such young children and began to make quiet rounds to put them out of their suffering. It was Janus who actually created the Punishment Chamber. He proposed the idea because there were more and more unruly children coming in than the center could handle.

It all started out one morning when a group of children attacked the caretakers at breakfast. For the Metis children, breakfast was always the most uncontrolled meal. After their eight hours of sleep and due to their advanced genetics, they awoke ravenous and were harder to contain than at any other time. Fingers had been nipped and sometimes an overzealous child might trample a worker, but for the most part they were just barely contained. That particular morning the children were out of control and as the raw meat was brought in, they attacked it and anything around it: including the workers and themselves. The massacre left only a few children unscathed, and most headed towards the infirmary. The handful left tried the same tactic at lunch, and as they were being contained, one tried to escape. Al had been a rather quiet child; until his first change and then he was given mood swings that would hit and make most of the Metis around him cringe. During one of these infamous mood swings during their lunch period he had attacked and mauled twelve workers and it took four full darts of anesthetic to drop him and even then he was still thrashing and fighting. One of the not so injured scientists asked to have Al brought to his lab so he could see if there was a hormone being produced for the super amount of aggression. Janus stepped in and decided that perhaps it was better to just exterminate the particularly violent ones to cull the same reactions. So he helped the facility to create an incineration chamber that would flash fry anything in under six seconds. He reasoned it was better to die than have months of research tests performed until death.

The facility had been running for almost fifteen years when things changed. There was a huge attack by a group of Black Spiral Dancers. How they found out about the facility was a huge debate but regardless they had found it and attacked in a huge group. While the facility tried to mount a defensive front against the invasion the Director decided it was unconscionable to let the Metis be slaughtered in rooms they could not escape from and in an uncharacteristic show of kindness, let them out of their rooms. The tide turned for the facility at that point. Children in age but not mind, they mounted a united front born from months of trainings and pushed back the invading waves of Spiral Dancers and not only bought the facility enough time to get a fighting force down to help them, but as the children fought for survival, they began to win the battle. Deformities that seemed to have no use came into play: poison pouches when punctured effectively worked as a poison gas cloud that dropped everyone within a specific radius, over long teeth and claws made effective weapons and soon even the Black Spiral Dancers had to pause when confronted with hysterical but maniacal sounding laughter from those Metis whose change left them more than a bit deranged. The children fought until no Black Spiral were left, and the facility began to see them in a new light.

They were no longer just subjects used for research; they were all now trained to become a front line unit. They would go in and clear the way for Garou teams to do their work. This meant that less Garou were being hurt and missions to flush out vampire nests and the like were much more successful. And there were always plenty of Metis around to train even if some fell. In fact the children were being trained to work in units and could easily be moved around once a team member fell to fill in the holes. In time of war younger and younger groups were being sent out half trained at best to disastrous results, so Janus began stepping in quietly. Over the span of his work at the facility he had collected enough information that he could call quite a few shots and no one would dare to oppose him. He made sure that training started early and that each child was trained enough to have a chance to survive. The only thing that was a huge debate was teaching them to side step, the Director had feared that it would leave to too many Metis escaping and causing havoc. Janus finally had to give up that fight since there were just too many other issues to fight for.

At the current day, Janus had more power than most people knew. Of course those on top owed him favors and feared his knowledge but he had in place a fail safe to make sure he wasn't some unfortunate accident. He made it well known that he had all the information backed up in a place that could go public if he were not around to reset it daily. It was his own personal hell, but Janus figured that it might the only way to salvage his soul and see Gaia and the Summerlands when he died.

Olivia regarded Janus in a new light, and troubling thoughts passed through her mind and flickered in her eyes. She didn't know what to think of him, he had always been a surrogate parent to her and what she learned was disturbing to say the least.

"Shouldn't we tell others about this place?" she asked, slightly confused by his secrecy when such atrocities were happening.

"Olivia, there are at least fifty facilities like this one around the nation. We could never hope to close them all down, not to mention they would just spring back up in secrecy." He said softly "At least this way I have a small measure of control."

"They are killing us." She said, feeling the betrayal to her core. "That cannot be what Gaia intended for us! We are being punished for our parents' sins! We are not some trainable puppets meant to die so the almighty Garou nation can survive!"

Janus had nothing to say in the face of her anger, it wasn't anything he had not thought himself but her hurt and disappointment in him radiated out and sucked the breath from him. He had never allowed himself to get as close to a Metis child as he had Olivia. He realized in that moment that he wasn't better than any of them. He too gave her preference since she looked so normal compared to the other children. Would he have gone to such lengths for Justin or Brynne? Probably not, but Olivia was pretty with no deformities that could be seen. She was intelligent, fast on her feet and in everyway a child he could easily be proud of. She watched him with those soul aged wise eyes, and he felt like the worst person possible. He knew he had to tell her the secret for her own safety, as well as give her the where about of his cache of information.

He took a deep breath and finished giving her all the information he had that would keep her safe. It also gave her the keys to destroy him as well as quite a few high ranking members of Garou society. He knew that she would never betray his trust, as he just had hers, but still it was frightening to think of what power this mere child now held in her hands. He sighed and stood; he activated a small device on his waist and motioned her towards the door. Once on the other side he side stepped, and was relieved that she quickly followed him. He handed her a small backpack that he had dedicated full of things she would need over the next day.

I have set for you to pass unharmed through the umbra to a bathroom of a local bus station. From there you will take the next bus to New York city and to a pack of Glass Walkers that are expecting you and will house you as a favor to me. Janus said, motioning over a small web spider and placed it on her shoulder.

He had paid dearly to get the web spiders not only to guide and protect her but also to delete any knowledge of her and any trace of her. He had called in massive favors and promised more to keep her safe. It was the best he could do for her and felt he owed it to her.

I will not be able to contact you for quite a long time. He continued No matter what, I want you to know that I do and have always held true fondness for you. Follow the spiders and when you get to the bus, find a seat and lay low. Be safe Olivia.

She nodded mutely, not sure what to say back to him. She was even more shocked when he pulled her into a tight hug. She returned the hug and then quickly turned on her heel and followed the spider into the umbra.

Janus stepped back into the real world facility, and began to walk toward the top level and exit into the forest. The small device on his belt blipped, and lights flickered as he walked. The machine was causing a cascade failure of the surveillance system as he walked by; no one would be able to tell that Olivia had escaped through the umbra and not through the front door, just one more method he put in place to guarantee her safety. After getting to the top, Janus walked back down to his office and shut off the device. With a sigh he gathered up a small handful of green envelopes and began to deliver them.

Olivia followed the spider to the bus station, it was uneventful allowing her mind to mull over the mass amounts of information she had received. She quietly exited the umbra into a bathroom stall of the bus, pulled a ticket out of the small backpack and almost smiled when she noticed her PDA and a few others of her electronics in the pack as well. Soon enough she got on the bus to New York City and sat quietly by herself in the back.

She looked out the window with glassy eyes, trying to absorb all that she had learned, and tried to deal with being mad and grateful to Janus at the same time. She had lost a sense of home and security and she was never going to get it back, at the same time she had true freedom for the first time in her life. She sighed once then put on her head phones and with a cheerful Irish song drowning out the rest of her thoughts she rode forward into her new life.


End file.
